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God of War (PS4): Seriously.

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Thinking about it, this game should have been called "Gods of War", what with half the Norse pantheon consisting of warrior gods of some sort. Odin, Tyr, Thor, Ullr and Freyja (and probably others I forgot) were all associated with war or aspects of it some times.
 
What is the condition of entering Valhalla again? Just dying in battle right?
 
Hykal94 said:
What is the condition of entering Valhalla again? Just dying in battle right?
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And not angering the Gods of Asgard. The story of Prince Phillip, the man who fell in love with a Valkyrie and she with him, notes he was cursed to never lose or die in battle so he could never enter Valhalla while at the same time proclaiming Phillip can marry the Valkyrie if he enters Valhalla. Odin didn't like a mortal getting uppity. It's not uncommon for fantasy and Superhero fiction to give him a Viking cremation so that he can have his paradise.
 
Xero Key said:
And not angering the Gods of Asgard. The story of Prince Phillip, the man who fell in love with a Valkyrie and she with him, notes he was cursed to never lose or die in battle so he could never enter Valhalla while at the same time proclaiming Phillip can marry the Valkyrie if he enters Valhalla. Odin didn't like a mortal getting uppity. It's not uncommon for fantasy and Superhero fiction to give him a Viking cremation so that he can have his paradise.
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So basically, anyone can go to Valhalla if:

1. You die in battle.
2. You don't piss off the gods.

Meaning that Bjorn over there, who has raped women, burned farms, and murdered dozens, goes to his ideal Paradise, where fighters are celebrated.

Why do people want to go to Valhalla again? I wouldn't want to go there. Unless I can go there as Kratos, and maybe mess everyone up.

See, this is why Vinland Saga is awesome. It's the only piece of fiction that I know of, that points out Valhalla is probably a really shitty godawful place.
 
Hykal94 said:
So basically, anyone can go to Valhalla if:

1. You die in battle.
2. You don't piss off the gods.

Meaning that Bjorn over there, who has raped women, burned farms, and murdered dozens, goes to his ideal Paradise, where fighters are celebrated.

Why do people want to go to Valhalla again? I wouldn't want to go there. Unless I can go there as Kratos, and maybe mess everyone up.

See, this is why Vinland Saga is awesome. It's the only piece of fiction that I know of, that points out Valhalla is probably a really shitty godawful place.
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Fight, die, ressurect, eat, and start the whole process all over again. Honestly it seems like it would be boring after a while.
 
Hykal94 said:
So basically, anyone can go to Valhalla if:

1. You die in battle.
2. You don't piss off the gods.

Meaning that Bjorn over there, who has raped women, burned farms, and murdered dozens, goes to his ideal Paradise, where fighters are celebrated.

Why do people want to go to Valhalla again? I wouldn't want to go there. Unless I can go there as Kratos, and maybe mess everyone up.

See, this is why Vinland Saga is awesome. It's the only piece of fiction that I know of, that points out Valhalla is probably a really shitty godawful place.
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Because the alternatives are worse.

Edit:

Guess not. See all fictions's post.
 
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Hykal94 said:
What is the condition of entering Valhalla again? Just dying in battle right?
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Bingo, though you could also cheat: the sagas mention that some cut themselves with spears on their deathbed before dying in order to trick the gods into thinking that they had died heroic deaths in battle and it apparently was good enough.

Hykal94 said:
So basically, anyone can go to Valhalla if:

1. You die in battle.
2. You don't piss off the gods.

Meaning that Bjorn over there, who has raped women, burned farms, and murdered dozens, goes to his ideal Paradise, where fighters are celebrated.

Why do people want to go to Valhalla again? I wouldn't want to go there. Unless I can go there as Kratos, and maybe mess everyone up.

See, this is why Vinland Saga is awesome. It's the only piece of fiction that I know of, that points out Valhalla is probably a really shitty godawful place.
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Yup. In Norse myths, evil isn't even considered a problem, unless you're really horrible. It's more about whether you're honorable. And species that are instinctively evil? They don't get punished because they can't help it. Also, if you study the myths closely, you realise that Vallhala isn't an eternal paradise of joyful violence; the gods are simply recruiting an army for Ragnarök, the end of the world.

Something to note though: there were actually a myriad places for an old Norse's soul to end up in after death, Valhalla is simply the most known. Freyja claimed half of the dead in battle from Odin to bring to her Fólkvangr and it was said young lovers and romantics also went to her hall. Gimli is the place in Asgard where righteous men go when they die. Depending on the accounts, even Hel was not a place of suffering but of shadows, and is rather peaceful, with Hel herself giving lodging to those sent to her that have died of disease or old age. Unless you had committed crimes and did wrongs that would have earned you Hel's wrath, then you would be punished in Niflhel, the lowest level of Hel. You could also end up on a holy mountain, where people would lead lives similar to the ones they had lived in the world of the living.

A lesser known fact is that even reincarnation was sometimes viewed as an option, where you could be born again inside your own family generations later. One king and his valkyrie lover, for example, reincarnated 3 times, with each time their love story ending tragically.
 
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Hmm this looks pretty interesting actually, the Kratos and Atreus dynamic continues to being different and engaging. Kratos is trying to teach the kid to be fit the Spartan ideal of a warrior but at the same time it's nuanced with him being hesitant of reaching out and the kid having worldviews that conflict with Kratos's own.

I admit that bit with the wolf in the shadows and mystery (Loki) voice gave me the shivers. The combination of voice acting, the music and the conclusion with Kratos finding the Greek Urn made me sit up and pay attention.
 
SharkGlue said:
Man , Kratos is so much less angry. I'm disturbingly fascinated to learn more
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I think that's the point. We've had six games including spin-offs of him being an angry rage monster. Now he's trying to keep his rage under control and be a proper father. The developers wanted to do something different without making a reboot, and it looks like they've succeeded. Changed up his weapons, made him less angry all the time, different setting, and the camera is a lot closer to the action, almost over the shoulder. Plus the bits with Atreus.

It's an interesting and gutsy move for the developers to take.
 
As much as it is a game about the world's angriest man brutalising every entry in myth there is, the series has actually dealt with some pretty interesting themes on fatherhood in the past. Chains of Olympus had that whole sequence with Calliope, his daughter, that was pretty powerful for then teenage me, and God of War 3 is like an extended 'how not to be a father' cautionary tale.

The father-son bonding thing is a little Hollywood, but I guess after two daughter figures they wanted to mix it up, but I'm a bit sad that people will basically forget both Calliope and Pandora while Atreus will get all kinds of focus.
 

God of War director explains why Kratos lost his blades and got an axe

Cory Barlog said:
"I think we wanted to create an identity, because to me the blades represent a very dark time in Kratos' life. They are not just a weapon to him. They are his scarlet letter. They are the marking that somebody tricked him, that he made a bad deal, that he made a mistake. Powerful, but I think also powerfully charged in its emotion. So I think of part of him wanting to move forward is being able to leave the blades behind."
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As interesting as this looks, I just can't take this character progression seriously in the face of the previous games. Mostly because of how over the top FUCKIN' ANGRY ALL THE TIME past Kratos is. The idea of a transition from GoW3 to this just feels wrong.

I'll just mentally file this away as a new IP with the same name I guess.

Ford Prefect said:
God of War 3 is like an extended 'how not to be a father' cautionary tale.
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Well, I guess it can join Nier and Lisa the Painful in literally the smallest gaming subgenre in the world.

Wait...

all fictions said:
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Huh.
 
If you think this hard to take you should go watch the parts of Chains where he's hugging Calliope on the Elysian Fields :V

e: or the part where he almost starts crying when he meets Lysandra again.
 
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Kratos is a person who feels things powerfully. It's not that he's such a ragemonster that he can't become mellow, it's about what the rage is hiding.

Kratos' story is about a man who lost his family and it hurt him so much he was willing to literally let the world burn just to get revenge. His rage is born from regret, shame, and sorrow. So he lashes out, in only the way a Real Man (tm) who isn't allowed to properly appreciate and indulge in his emotions can.

GoW4 shows an older Kratos with a new family. One who has had time to reflect and start to have his pain healed, so now he can look back on what he became and... he can't quite say it was justified. He can't say that the Ghost of Sparta, Godslayer was the best way to honor his wife and child. He can't say that he'd do it all over again. He can't say that, because he'd have to say it to his son, that his way is the right way... and he knows he's wrong.

He knows that if his family was still alive, they'd hate what he became. So he hides from his past and actively avoids it so that he can take his second chance and do the right thing. He still has the rage, but now he's a protector and father, not a mourning man seeking vengeance.

Or I could be wrong, who knows *shrug*
 
That moment with the world serpent shows just how much he's changed. The original Kratos would immediately leap up and start stabbing. This Kratos is actually willing to hear it out and asks his son to translate.
 
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