I'm actually making a response to this video:
Specifically, I wanna state why it's somewhat full of crap. He makes two big points here (and one small one) that irked me a lot.
For starters, Kratos' son is greatly designed but is not innovative at all and neither is the narrative theme. Even if we totally ignored The Last of Us, Bioshock Infinite already had a companion AI in Elizabeth, although admittedly, Bioshock Infinite is not about the father/son theme really.
Next is the combat. Now, perhaps compared to the original God of Wars, God of War 4's combat is better, certainly. But it's still not on the same level as Ninja Gaiden Black or II. I don't know why everyone suddenly developed Alzheimer's when it comes to Ninja Gaiden, but NG made so many strides and innovations with the third person hack-and-slash genre that it's utterly mind boggling that they're now almost entirely ignored in favor of Dark Souls style combat. It's bullshit.
And now, the last point I want to contest. We, as gamers, don't mind innovation at all, but when a series becomes popular, certain core parts of it become familiar to gamers. That there are core things that they rightfully come to expect out of a series. For example, Halo has and has always had regenerating shields. Doom has and has always had demons and Hell. Zelda has and has always had third person sword combat of some form. These are all things we've come to expect when we see another entry in a series. The big problem comes when we buy something like, say, Banjo-Kazooie and get a vehicle-building game instead. And I say this actually as a huge fan of Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts.
The problem comes when you change the body of a game in a series so much as to be almost unrecognizable from what it was. Then the relevant question comes to us. "Why didn't they just make a separate IP and put the mechanics and/or story they wanted to tell in that instead?" Because someone didn't want to risk selling the game without any brand recognition, and that's pretty much it. To say that we should just accept that a developer/publisher completely change what someone's favorite game series is all about is total shit.
Making a new IP is risky, I get it, but we don't need you shoving one game series that was made for one mold into an entirely different mold. We will accept and even adore innovation, even if it doesn't come in a familiar package. The thing is though that innovation alone is not gonna cut it. You have to make a good game around it. If you repurpose one game series for another, at best, you will split the fanbase. I've seen it happen with Halo 5, I've seen it happen with UT2004, and I've seen it happen with Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts.
God of War 4 may be an alright game, maybe even a decent one. And I will assent that it does prove linear experiences can sell and be well liked, but otherwise, it is no different and should not be treated as such. Oh, and BTW, fuck naming remakes the same as the original game. Just stop.
Specifically, I wanna state why it's somewhat full of crap. He makes two big points here (and one small one) that irked me a lot.
For starters, Kratos' son is greatly designed but is not innovative at all and neither is the narrative theme. Even if we totally ignored The Last of Us, Bioshock Infinite already had a companion AI in Elizabeth, although admittedly, Bioshock Infinite is not about the father/son theme really.
Next is the combat. Now, perhaps compared to the original God of Wars, God of War 4's combat is better, certainly. But it's still not on the same level as Ninja Gaiden Black or II. I don't know why everyone suddenly developed Alzheimer's when it comes to Ninja Gaiden, but NG made so many strides and innovations with the third person hack-and-slash genre that it's utterly mind boggling that they're now almost entirely ignored in favor of Dark Souls style combat. It's bullshit.
And now, the last point I want to contest. We, as gamers, don't mind innovation at all, but when a series becomes popular, certain core parts of it become familiar to gamers. That there are core things that they rightfully come to expect out of a series. For example, Halo has and has always had regenerating shields. Doom has and has always had demons and Hell. Zelda has and has always had third person sword combat of some form. These are all things we've come to expect when we see another entry in a series. The big problem comes when we buy something like, say, Banjo-Kazooie and get a vehicle-building game instead. And I say this actually as a huge fan of Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts.
The problem comes when you change the body of a game in a series so much as to be almost unrecognizable from what it was. Then the relevant question comes to us. "Why didn't they just make a separate IP and put the mechanics and/or story they wanted to tell in that instead?" Because someone didn't want to risk selling the game without any brand recognition, and that's pretty much it. To say that we should just accept that a developer/publisher completely change what someone's favorite game series is all about is total shit.
Making a new IP is risky, I get it, but we don't need you shoving one game series that was made for one mold into an entirely different mold. We will accept and even adore innovation, even if it doesn't come in a familiar package. The thing is though that innovation alone is not gonna cut it. You have to make a good game around it. If you repurpose one game series for another, at best, you will split the fanbase. I've seen it happen with Halo 5, I've seen it happen with UT2004, and I've seen it happen with Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts.
God of War 4 may be an alright game, maybe even a decent one. And I will assent that it does prove linear experiences can sell and be well liked, but otherwise, it is no different and should not be treated as such. Oh, and BTW, fuck naming remakes the same as the original game. Just stop.
