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God of War (PS4): Seriously.

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First look - E3 2016 Demo
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    • all fictions

    all fictions

    I hate you! (it's not against the rules!)
    Location
    Mons Regius
    Pronouns
    He/Him
    ...what.

    What.
    Wikipedia said:
    The game will be a soft reboot for the franchise and will take the series to the world of Norse mythology—all previous games were based on Greek mythology. Series protagonist Kratos will return as the main character, and he now has a son named Charlie. Kratos acts as a mentor and protector to his son, and has to master the rage that has driven him for many years.
    Plot

    Many years have passed since Kratos took his vengeance against the Olympian gods. With that behind him, Kratos now lives with his son Charlie in the world of the Norse gods and monsters. He must fight to survive and teach his son to do the same. A mentor and protector of his son, who seeks his father's respect, Kratos must master the rage that has driven him for many years. He hopes to teach his son and make amends for his past. In this new setting, Kratos will face a new pantheon of creatures, monsters, and gods.
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    I, just, who, can't even, why?

    Who thought this was a good idea?
    Cory Barlog said:
    I knew I didn't want to simply reboot the franchise, starting over with a retelling of the origin story. I wanted to reimagine the gameplay, give players a fresh perspective and a new tactile experience while delving deeper into the emotional journey of Kratos to explore the compelling drama that unfolds when an immortal demigod makes a decision to change.
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    Get outta here.

    Why not let Kratos stay dead after having driven the world to ruins? Why not let the ambiguous hopeful(?) ending stands on its own? Why the Norse pantheon? Why half naked in winter? Why Charlie?

    I just...let me watch this (oddly prophetic) HISHE funny video instead:
     
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    • This seems cool, I'll wait to judge until it's a bit closer to release but I'm interested.
     
    Headcanon: Charlie isn't actually Kratos's flesh and blood child, but rather his foster son he picked up on his way to norway from his starting point of greece, as he was passing through france(Or rather, the territory that would become france). That would explain the name.
     
    I must say as someone who has played the series, I haven't been this excited since God of War 2 was announced and released, I have hopes for this game and hope it is an improvement from God of War 3, which I was in slight disappointment in when I played it, not saying it wasn't great but I am also saying it was.

    I see this as a pass the torch game, um.. what I mean is that after this if they decide to continue on with it, I believe that we would/might be playing as Kratos' son, which in my personal opinion would be very cool as I am always excited to see new story-lines in series I love/enjoy playing.

    Back to the subject :p sorry... when I was shown the trailer and a demo play (I believe? unless I was mistaken) I must say this, that if the game looks anything like what I had seen... I'm super excited to play it, however if it's a disappointment I feel I might rage and toss stuff around in my house... so I am crossing my fingers for this to be good.


    Edit: Oops forgot to say I found the second video from original post rather funny :D Thanks for that
     
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    A Nation's Virtue said:
    Why is his son named Charlie? That's as un-Greek/Norse as you can get.
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    I suspect he's going to be an important legendary figure at some point and that's why he has an odd name.

    all fictions said:
    Get outta here.

    Why not let Kratos stay dead after having driven the world to ruins? Why not let the ambiguous hopeful(?) ending stands on its own? Why the Norse pantheon? Why half naked in winter? Why Charlie?
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    I'd be more accepting of these complaints if it wasn't for the interaction between Kratos and his kid being just so... compelling. There's something really beautiful about Kratos trying to be a good father after fucking up so many goddamn times and the gameplay looks solid. Sure, GoW3's ending can stand on its own, but as far as sequels go, this is respectful enough to his character development that I don't think it should be rejected.
     
    I like how Kratos' Rage of Sparta meter goes up a bit when Charlie first misses the dear because God dangit he's just so sick of his kid fucking up. And yet after he gets accidentally shot he shows literally no sign of caring. I also like gaining child XP to level up your child.

    I dunno, man. This idea is just so out there and so different from what GoW is normally about that I can't help but be intrigued. I want to be told the story of how Kratos learned to dad.
     
    I'm actually interested to see a father/son narrative.

    I'm always happy to see games try to grow beyond the few stale narratives that we've had since the inception of the medium.
     
    ZerbanDaGreat said:
    I like how Kratos' Rage of Sparta meter goes up a bit when Charlie first misses the dear because God dangit he's just so sick of his kid fucking up. And yet after he gets accidentally shot he shows literally no sign of caring. I also like gaining child XP to level up your child.

    I dunno, man. This idea is just so out there and so different from what GoW is normally about that I can't help but be intrigued. I want to be told the story of how Kratos learned to dad.
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    Kratos' desire to be a good father is actually a pretty defining element in the original God of War games. It's emphasised most strongly in Chains of Olympus (where he meets his daughter Calliope in the underworld) and God of War III (where he tools around with Pandora, who is a fairly obvious substitute), but like overall that's his deal. I've always felt that they got these dramatic beats pretty much right - Terrence Carson isn't a bad voice actor - but obviousy they're contrasted against the rest of the games which are rage fueled gore fests, so feel kind of ridiculous in context.

    But like, there's been a pretty big gap since the last game. I didn't play ascension so it feels even longer for me, which is good, because it's given me space to accept the possibility of this The Last of Us styled neo Tomb Raider influenced God of War. I can buy this character drama father and son stuff.

    It helps that it's relatively less violent. Like the Mr Skeltals get smashed up but it doesn't have quite the same effect as gutting a centaur or pulling Helios' head off. And the takedown QTE on the troll was in line with what you'd expect from SIE Santa Monica but was remarkably restrained in terms of blood and guts. Everything feels that little bit more restrained. The axe might be magical but a Mjolnir like throwing effect doesn't compare to swords on chains. There's a new rage mode but it doesn't set Kratos on fire or anything like that.

    Like if someone told me that there was a new God of War coming and it had an intimate low camera angle and a father and son relationship as the central element I would have reacted more or less like the OP but ... I dunno, maybe it'll actually work out somehow?

    ps i think it's cute how the holder for kratos' axe is a capital omega
     
    Woah, never expected this series to shift to the Norse pantheon. That trailer was pretty cool, so I'll see what else they reveal about the game before I decide to buy or not.
     
    Ford Prefect said:
    Kratos' desire to be a good father is actually a pretty defining element in the original God of War games. It's emphasised most strongly in Chains of Olympus (where he meets his daughter Calliope in the underworld) and God of War III (where he tools around with Pandora, who is a fairly obvious substitute), but like overall that's his deal.
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    Thing is that's not... rrrreally part of his character. It's subsumed by your bog standard "MUH FAMILY IS DEEEEAD" backstory. I really don't recall learning anything about his home life and his relationship with his daughter beyond him being really really sad that he totes killed her. In Chains of Olympus my recollection was that Calliope only really featured to make a fairly good sequence out of pressing O to make your stupid child stop hugging you and go away. It was still all about Kratos and him feeling really sad, is my point. Calliope doesn't really exist in terms of the story. And with Pandora in GoW 3 my recollection was more that he just kinda... put up with her. She was only around for like the back third/quarter of the game and existed mostly to yell at Kratos about hope until he said "oh yeah, hope".

    The focus in GoW 4 is entirely unlike anything the series has seen before. Charlie isn't dead before the game even starts. More to the point I don't think he even will die, which is fucking surprising with a setup like this. Those '+50 to Tracking' popups heavily implied that Kratos teaching his son about the birds and the bees is a core gameplay mechanic. I joke about child XP but training up your child and levelling him to the maximum potential child-strength would genuinely help impart paternal feelings upon a player. So yeah, what I'm saying is that the other GoWs were games in which Kratos was technically a father but from the looks of it GoW 4 is about being a father and teaching your son to be a sick badass like you. Which is a lot more compelling.

    EDIT: And rewatching the trailer there's a surprising amount of little subtleties to enjoy that get me kind of hopeful for the overall handling of their relationship. There's the aforementioned perfectly timed Rage of Sparta rise and then fall when he snaps at his son then gets control of himself. And if you look reeeeally closely you can see Charlie smile when Kratos is all "yer deer is getting away >8[" because boy I'd be smiling to know my giant dad wasn't gonna beat my ass for shooting him. And finally there's that bit right at the end when Charlie tries to say something but can't, and turns away, then Kratos tries to reach out to him, but can't. There's definitely a sense of strain to it. A sense that at the end of the day Kratos is a Spartan and that right there tells you a lot about how fucked up he'd be even without the baggage of the trilogy. He's in a 24-hour state of simmering 'roid-rage and he doesn't know how to connect with his son beyond "this is how you Man" stuff, and the game seems to be acknowledging that.

    Fuck you SIE Santa Monica you made me type Words about a generic nineties antihero motherfucker struggling to connect with his son and be a good father.
     
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    Writing a short snippet of Kratos as an awkward parent. Will be back later with results after the editing is done.

    So, yeah. I'm really digging this direction they're going with. Kratos has so much baggage, and seeing him trying to restrain himself and be a good father for this kid is... I don't know, there's just something beautiful and tragic about it. It helps that the action is more reserved than in previous games just going by the demo. It fits with the impression that Kratos is attempting to keep his darker impulses under some semblance of control.

    I really hope they don't fuck this up. I really, really hope. There's so much that can be done with this premise, and it would be great to explore the relationship between someone as broken as Kratos and this kid as they try to make a life in this frozen land.
     
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    Color me interested. The Dadening and video games has been going on for a while but it's airways nice when it gets pulled off well
     
    My thoughts about the trailer and concept in one image:

    Please don't, game devs. This has so much potential to be fucking amazing.
     
    Dad of War? I mean, if they're not going to just kill him at the end so it's Odin killing time it could work with what's shown.
     
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