I tried to play through the first game on PS2, but it was too dang hard.
I tried to play through the second game on PS2, but it was even more impossible.
Then I played the first PSP game, Chain of Olympus. Didn't really care for it, didn't bother to finish it (also it was hard).
Next I played the 2nd PSP game, Ghost of Sparta. And you know what, that was actually decent, and fairly well balanced. As a result I finished it. First God of War game I ever beat. Nothing to write home about, from what I call, but wasn't a waste of time to play either. I enjoyed it well enough.
Then years later I finally played God of War 3, when I grabbed the God of War Collection for PS3 during the PS4 era. Also a good game, also well balanced, challenging but fair, and I finished that one too. I recalled that people really liked that one, and said it was the best in the series up to that point. I agree.
At some point there was a prequel, God of War: Ascension. Never played that one. No idea how people feel about it either.
A lot of friends and other people I knew were ranting and raving about God of War 4. Heard a lot of good things about it online too. Eventually got a PS4 during the last year of its generation, and I grabbed a brand-new physical copy of GoW4 for $10. Also turned out to be a good, enjoyable game, and I finished it. So I am looking forward to playing God of War 5: Ragnarok. Too bad I didn't know at the time that Sony was gonna start putting their games on PC (and no one could have ever imagined they would do this), otherwise I never would have gotten a PS4, and would have bought all those games on PC. Oh well. Now I know wassup though, and I will only be playing Sony-exclusive games on PC from now on.
Well, maybe the remakes will be my chance to finally beat 1 and 2. I did hear that the original voice actor for Kratos is returning for the remakes, so that's awesome. One question remains though: are they gonna bring back the sex mini-games too?