Did GoW and Kratos lose their charm?

[a rustle floor]

I don't think the game holds up to the standard of what once was a quick and fun game to everyone with flavor of MK brutality and hack&slack. Instead we just a husk of former Kratos, molded by whoever else took over the game studio to ruin Kratos character, they even replaced the voice actor just to kill off everything related to Kratos being Kratos.

Playing both 2018 and Ragnarok felt like it is nothing but walking a husk, a man castrated by nothing but bad video game writing and horrible game design with slow traversals and limited design space and rushed story towards the end.

[Djura]

L

[Krypto]

Originally posted by a rustle floor:

I don't think the game holds up to the standard of what once was a quick and fun game to everyone with flavor of MK brutality and hack&slack. Instead we just a husk of former Kratos, molded by whoever else took over the game studio to ruin Kratos character, they even replaced the voice actor just to kill off everything related to Kratos being Kratos.

Playing both 2018 and Ragnarok felt like it is nothing but walking a husk, a man castrated by nothing but bad video game writing and horrible game design with slow traversals and limited design space and rushed story towards the end.

Kratos was once young, angry, and immature. He grew up. Simple as that.

Having a child can change a person because now you have something to live for, someone to provide and care for, and teach to not make the same bad decisions you might have.

[a rustle floor]

Originally posted by Darkwalker:

Originally posted by a rustle floor:

I don't think the game holds up to the standard of what once was a quick and fun game to everyone with flavor of MK brutality and hack&slack. Instead we just a husk of former Kratos, molded by whoever else took over the game studio to ruin Kratos character, they even replaced the voice actor just to kill off everything related to Kratos being Kratos.

Playing both 2018 and Ragnarok felt like it is nothing but walking a husk, a man castrated by nothing but bad video game writing and horrible game design with slow traversals and limited design space and rushed story towards the end.

Kratos was once young, angry, and immature. He grew up. Simple as that.

Having a child can change a person because now you have something to live for, someone to provide and care for, and teach to not make the same bad decisions you might have.

if having a child changes a person then how did he turn that way during GoW 1/2 flashbacks?

[Krypto]

Originally posted by a rustle floor:

Originally posted by Darkwalker:

Kratos was once young, angry, and immature. He grew up. Simple as that.

Having a child can change a person because now you have something to live for, someone to provide and care for, and teach to not make the same bad decisions you might have.

if having a child changes a person then how did he turn that way during GoW 1/2 flashbacks?

He had a wife and daughter who he murdered. I'd be pretty pissed off and vengeful afterwards too.

[Bullett00th]

I absolutely see what you mean, however you have to come into this game with the right expectations. And you can't expect the classic Kratos from the original trilogy and the spinoffs.

And trust me - I love the Greek universe God of War. I've played the original trilogy, Ascension, both PSP spinoffs (surprisingly good), and hell even the Java game, which did capture the spirit of the mainline games and even had a plot to follow.

But you have to understand that this is a reboot. Whether or not this kind of gameplay is your cup of tea is completely your preference, but if you come into it with the expectations of playing a platforming-heavy slasher game, you're going to have a bad time.

To me personally, the game absolutely does deliver a believable older Kratos who is just - DONE - with all the BS with the gods, and finds his new life in a different pantheon - silly as it sounds. The bonding process with his son is also well made and believable if you look at it through the prism of his past life, where he lost his daughter - several times - and has a hard time bonding with a kid again. They also did a good job making him a really effective sidekick, especially as he grows with you and learns new abilities.

I also think the combat is very well done for what it is and given the new camera perspective. I'm sure you can dig it as well if you give it time and play by its rules.


HOWEVER


Yes, I also miss climbing enormous mountain-sized creatures, gouging their eyes out and splitting their stomachs from the inside. It's not here, or at least not on that scale. The platforming is completely gone, switched for your modern day 'hold directional button and occasionally press jump'. But it's still a good game with a solid plot, varied combat and rewarding exploration.

Now Ragnarok is another story. Too much of the same and little reason for all that's happening imo.

[a rustle floor]

Originally posted by Bullett00th:

I absolutely see what you mean, however you have to come into this game with the right expectations. And you can't expect the classic Kratos from the original trilogy and the spinoffs.

My itch is that the first game (and the second) in the reboot fail at capturing something that most if not all "open world" games have, it's not the UI clutter but it's the fact the backtracking in them is horrible which they should have learned from other playstation first party games like GoT with how easy and smooth they made exploration.

then you get to building the mechanics of this reboot which they went hard on it with having rune slot system but failed to keep something important, that being the UI cluttered as hell and then went into an even more basic way of things in the sequel.

They still lacked any kind of motivation ever since the axe got introduced they barely add weapons in a series that kept adding multiple flavors of weapons other than the blades of chaos with each sequel.

[Bullett00th]

Originally posted by a rustle floor:

They still lacked any kind of motivation ever since the axe got introduced they barely add weapons in a series that kept adding multiple flavors of weapons other than the blades of chaos with each sequel.

Again, you keep expecting it to behave like the previous games in the series. It's a completely different game - take it or leave it.

Ragnarok introduces more weapons but isn't any better for it IMO. Runes or no runes, backtracking or no backtracking, if you don't enjoy the base combat loop with the axe, just let it go and drop the game - it's what I did with Ragnarok. I DID find the base combat enjoyable and the story engaging in this one, so I beat it.

[JEB!]

Kratos's character is fine, but the story is just a mess. They set up the main antagonist to have a weakness that can be discovered... only to completely forget about it and end up having his weakness exposed due to one in a million chance...

What the original series did well was balance the actions of Zeus and the other gods to serve an arguably greater good. Kratos can't be easily defined as a victim or a villain because it's hard to answer the question of what the Greek gods really deserve. This game is really simplistic in how it portrays the Aesir as purely dumb and evil baddies. There are just no antagonists that are interesting. which is shameful for a series supposedly about moral ambiguity.

[nanowarrior12]

It sold 23 million copies that doesn't sound like losing its charms hahaha

[a rustle floor]

Originally posted by nanowarrior12:

It sold 23 million copies that doesn't sound like losing its charms hahaha

doubt these numbers are correct, seems too inflated since the game was offered for free as a PS5 bundled games of PS best hits.

[hammerstar]

Frankly, I've come to appreciate old Kratos more as I've gotten older. I actually hated him when I first played the og GoW trilogy back in high school as they came out, mainly because I saw him as a blame-shifting douche when everything bad that happens to him is his own fault. Little did I realize at the time, that was entirely the point because he was the villain of the story.

But as I've gotten older, I've become more accepting and even appreciative of villain protagonist games. And I mean actual villain protagonist, not games that have an "evil" route that usually ends up being "jerkwad good" anyway. Games like Overlord, Tyranny, and yes, the og God of War.

Old school Kratos was a walking nightmare of death and destruction and I'd appreciate them far more now than I did back then. Hopefully the trilogy gets a remastered release in the future, because I'd dearly love to be able to play them on PC legally.

[Bullett00th]

Originally posted by hammerstar:

Frankly, I've come to appreciate old Kratos more as I've gotten older. I actually hated him when I first played the og GoW trilogy back in high school as they came out, mainly because I saw him as a blame-shifting douche when everything bad that happens to him is his own fault. Little did I realize at the time, that was entirely the point because he was the villain of the story.

But as I've gotten older, I've become more accepting and even appreciative of villain protagonist games. And I mean actual villain protagonist, not games that have an "evil" route that usually ends up being "jerkwad good" anyway. Games like Overlord, Tyranny, and yes, the og God of War.

Old school Kratos was a walking nightmare of death and destruction and I'd appreciate them far more now than I did back then. Hopefully the trilogy gets a remastered release in the future, because I'd dearly love to be able to play them on PC legally.

I never saw him as a villain. Antihero-maybe, but then again GoW mythos never featured a hero that Kratos would be opposing.

It's a classc Greek tragedy above all, and - just like the Greek gods, Kratos has his own interests and emotions in mind when taking his actions. Noone is good in that story, it's a very human story of a soldier doing what he does best, and damn the consequences.

[Kraxen]

Why did they change Kratos? The “modern audience” is the reason why.

[Weltall8000]

Originally posted by Decanus:

Why did they change Kratos? The “modern audience” is the reason why.

"Modern audience" sounds like a loaded term. What do you mean by it?

That said, it stands to reason that storytelling will be done with the audience in mind. Art is also a product of the context in which it was created.

[Krypto]

Originally posted by Decanus:

Why did they change Kratos? The “modern audience” is the reason why.

Considering God of War 2018 is a sequel to God of War 3 basically, it's an evolution to his character where he finally did what he wanted, fell in love and had a son, now is trying to navigate life as a father and teacher.

It's called a "character arc."