Extra Credits: No Redeeming Value

[shadow skill]

I think the creator of the video missed the point of the last two games. The fact that Kratos single mindedly destroys anyone that stands in his way is not only fitting for the real Kratos (Who was a simple minded slave of Zeus.) it made sense for Kratos to fixate on him as the symbol for all of the lies that the gods told him. The reason he did what he did as the God of War had everything to do with his inability to come to terms with his own guilt. Besides by the time that GOWII started Zeus had already become mad with fear, it merely came to a head in the third game. Look at how Zeus tricked the mortal to build that maze, the man did everything right and was he rewarded? Hell no! Instead he was locked away inside the maze. Zeus had become exceedingly cruel and every other power out there wanted to either kill Kratos, or use Kratos to destroy the Olympians so that they could lord over human beings.

Kratos on the other hand just wanted to kill Zeus and absolutely no one else, he didn't even necessarily hate those that stood against him like Hephaestus. The only really evil or malicious person was Zeus himself even before he became mad with fear. He used Kratos to solve his problem with Ares, something that he was more than capable of doing on his own, then he has Athena string Kratos along until the deed is done and then surprise, surprise they can't take away his pain ever.

 

[Vohn_exel]

New directors can really change a series. Look what it did to the DMC series...although it kind of picked itself back up from the ashes of it's first sequel. I liked GOW II as well, but I haven't ever got around to beating it and so I haven't played three yet.

But my big problem with GOW was the way it told the Greek myths. It's sort of went it's own direction and kind of went with "well this is what really happened." It was my whole problem with Clash of the Titans, in that it seemed the creators just seemed to kind of skim Greek Mythology and place whatever they wanted in the parts they didn't like. I always would have prefered it if Kratos DIDN'T kill Ares at the end of the first game, but I suppose that worked for the narrative.

 

[thejboy88]

I don't think the final two games had no redeeming value exactly but rather a shift in sotyr ideas. The first game was, as you said, based on typical greek tragedy. The other two seemed more focused on telling the wider story of greek mythology with regard to the origins of the gods and the titans. One story would be more human-based while the other would be more mythological based, which is why the human elements of the first game seem to be missing from the other two. Though i do agree that they could have downplayed the violence a bit, it's getting over the top for my liking. Gooed episode regardless

 

[Something Amyss]

Wow...people actually play God of War for the storytelling...Seriously?

I'm as shocked as you. Everyone who I know who plays GoW does so because OMG YOU'RE A BADASS KILLING MACHINE!!!!!

I doubt any of them thought "Greek Tragedy," or even paid attention to the story at all. Killing people=kewl.

 

[Mortrialus]

I have never liked the God Of War series. They're actually one of my least favorite series in modern gaming. I won't deny that much of it is hype backlash. I will admit they're well made, but I still find them lack luster. If I want a fun spectacle fighter, I'll just play play Devil May Cry. If I want a mature game with that actually approaches its subject matter skillfully and maturely, I'll play Drakengard. Both of these games each take the individual elements and does them SO much better than even God Of War I.

I will (begrudgingly) agree that the games are great examples of characterization through gameplay, I don't think you realize why the developers went the way they did. There is a specific reason why Kratos is a ball of rage instead of, say, a sadistic, cold and calculating mass murder, and it has nothing to do with "artistic vision". Kratos's anger and hyper masculinity is a shallow attempt at appealing to certain Playstation consumers. Aside from Marcus from Gears of War(What is it with these games that have War at the end of the title?) Kratos is the ultimate embodiment of what insecure twelve-year-old boys wish they were. Normally it's not terribly hard to get past an unsettling presentation of a video game, but it's so prevalent and constant I literally couldn't get past it when playing the games. It's like walking into a creepy kid dreaming about what he wants to be when he grows up; Its completely masturbatory and immature.

Caim from Drakengard has a similar personality to Kratos, albeit for different reasons, but much better than Kratos from a characterization and narrative standpoint. He's also a senseless, brutal, mass murderer. He doesn't really care about saving the world, its simply the option that allows him the opportunity to kill as many people as he can without being judged for it. Caim is not just some junk wish fulfillment character like Kratos. Caim is specifically a unique take on the standard RPG style protagonist. Ask yourself, what kind of person would go around senselessly murdering as many soldiers and monsters as he can, simply for practice and experience while trying to save the world? That person would have be blood thirsty sociopath. Of course Drakengard wasn't a Greek tragedy, with it being a low fantasy that spirals downward into Lovecraftian horror and nihilistic themes.

The God of War series serves as nothing other than a metaphorical hand job for people who have extremely stunted idea of masculinity using Kratos as the main character. A fact that is so disturbing that I literally cannot bring myself to fully play any these games.

Have you ever read a creepy author insert fan fiction where the author avatar has sex with one of them main characters? Its like that only a game and replace sex with a extreme violence and faux machismo. Actually he is! I remember a certain article from this website where the director talks about the whole purpose of the sex scene was to show the audience how awesome he is.

http://www.destructoid.com/oh-no-god-of-war-iii-almost-didn-t-have-a-sex-mini-game-165571.phtml

There are also other things where the developers talk about how awesome and strong Kratos is and how they made his so you can love how bad ass and tough he is!

God of War was also the most shallow of Greek tragedies. The fact that it was one is not worthy of praise. Really, the moral of the story is "Don't senselessly kill" but thats how Kratos accomplishes EVERYTHING in life. How was he a rising Spartan leader? Because he kills things real good. How did he become the God of War? He killed the old one, which is technically a raise of his status, not a lowering. I find Kratos guild to be unbelievably considering the character.

Just wanted to share my thoughts. Great video however. I'm really becoming a fan of yours.

 

[SextusMaximus]

Great video, however I think the main focus on the God of War games was gameplay - so while the story was nice in the first one - the main point has always been about Kratos destroying and killing.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

Kratos did have some moments in the first game, but by 2 I was wondering why the HELL I was supposed to be rooting for him. I mean, c'mon, Zeus did the most logical thing; Kratos is throwing the world's biggest tantrum for no reason whatsoever, won't listen to anyone, and therefore he must be stopped even if it means killing him. If anyone is the REAL villain in the series it's Kratos.

A big question that baffles me is why the team never tried to that untouched brother story in the first game. That had HUGE potential for another tragedy, though I guess NOT having a granite block with giant pecs and a steel wool goatee would've turned off the macho-man loving crowd.

In terms of story-telling the last 2 games are gigantic failures as any semblance of character development or care for serious story-telling was thrown out to make the series one big stress ball for the masses. Even Dante in the DMC series is more consistently characterized and better developed than Kratos was and grew to an eccentric mentor role in 4 (kudos to CAPCOM for having the stones to hand the torch off to newbie Nero). The reason the series is so irritating is because the developers THOUGHT this was some awesome, epic plot and it's NOT. THIS can't be the standard games are held to in this day and age. To this day I still hold up stuff like FFVII and Yasumi Matsuno's entire catalog as the way to have characters develop and grow. Anyway, I'm rambling, great vid.

 

[Hopperdopper]

I love this series, it is quite educational.

 

[Android2137]

I was only able to play quite a bit of the third game, but after I got over the shock of how graphic everything was (and even found myself complaining a few times that there wasn't enough variety in his killing moves), I did notice that the storyline was a bit weak. Sure, massacring things is entertaining, but am I supposed to relate to this guy? During boss fights, I couldn't help but sympathize with them!

 

[Daniel Ferguson]

On POV change: for an example where one character's story changes POV from 3rd to 1st, and does it effectively and meaningfully, read Alastair Reynolds' Chasm City.

 

[Michael Ellis]

The rambling of this guy is painful to listen to...

 

[Furrama]

EDIT I meant to quote someone, my bad. Read below.

 

[Furrama]

Are you asking too much of a video game? Yes. Yes you are. This article was overthinking taken to an absurd, Ted Mosby-esque level. God of War is all about the extreme excess of killing everything in Greek mythology, in one case with a bridge. I just don't feel it's a game that was meant to stand up to analysis as a literary work, nor should it be judged by those standards.

Nothing gets better unless it is held to higher standards. That was his and my point. Video gaming doesn't have to be a pointless time waister.

I don't expect AC/DC to be Beethoven's fifth and I don't expect God of War to be Ico. It works as what it is, not as an intellectual piece.

Yes, but it could have been better. Everything could have been better than what it is, but they often stop short for whatever reason. NOTHING IS ABOVE CRITICISM. You do know that people argue about books and movies and hold them to higher expectations sometimes. Sometimes you see a glimmer of genius in something and then feel let down when it falls apart. There is nothing wrong with wanting more out of anything in life.

God of War could have been more than about blood and death. Blood and death was at first just a vehicle, but it soon became the driving force. When that happened it lost some appeal to most people who want more than to get up in the morning and death death death death death lunch death death death afternoon tea death death death quick shower death death death....

 

[agrandstudent]

Are you asking too much of a video game? Yes. Yes you are. This article was overthinking taken to an absurd, Ted Mosby-esque level. God of War is all about the extreme excess of killing everything in Greek mythology, in one case with a bridge. I just don't feel it's a game that was meant to stand up to analysis as a literary work, nor should it be judged by those standards.

You, and everyone that has said similar things has to try and understand where Daniel is coming from. He believes that games are a new growing form of art and as such they should be judged and analysed for their artistic value. How much there is in a specific game or other singular piece of art is always up for debate, but this does not mean that because you feel that this piece of art has not artistic value it should be exempt from analysis.

God of war is currently one of the few popular mainstream games that even attempted to have some artistic value . Because of that an analysis of it would be able to demonstrate to the widest possible audience that there is a potential for video game to tell meaningful artistic stories.

 

[Vuirneen]

I love this series. Looking forward to next week.

 

[neuromantic]

Hey, I just clicked this video to see what it was all about and I'm sure I saw one of your videos on Youtube forever ago... Really glad to see you made it to the Escapist, I really like the way your videos are set up.

And the theme music at the end put a smile on my face, liked it so much I stayed all the way to the end of the credits, and thats not something I do very often. So kudos to your music guy, whomever he (or she) may be.

 

[Gerkuman]

While I agree with most of this review, the last bit frustrated me. That is, where the writers once again imply that linearity in the storyline of games is bad. I'll admit, maybe I'm just one of those people who is behind the times, but I've never been against a game just because I'm not given the choice to do things. Most of my favourite series' are linear. (Ace Attorney topping the pile in this case.)

I'm not saying that sandbox games are bad, far from it. I enjoyed Fallout 3, and many others. I just don't believe that we should stop making games with linear stories.

 

[Disthron]

Wait, so in some cases in Greek Tragedy they didn't do anything wrong. Doesn't that mean that there getting blamed for stuff they didn't do? How is that getting judged by your actions?

It's been quite a few years since I played GoW1 but wasn't is set up so that Kratos only couldn't recognise his family? So when he walked into that house he saw an unknown woman and child and slaughtered them. So basically if he hadn't of been such a worthless asshole he wouldn't have killed his family, who apparently didn't wont him any way because, you know, he was a psycho.

Maybe it's because I'm just not a fan of Greek Tragedy but I quit the game in discust after the cut-scene where you find out what happened to Kratoses family. It wasn't that it was that shocking, it didn't seem out of character or anything,it was just the straw that broke the camels back.

The latter games, or at least what I heard about them, basically just proved what I'd thought about the character all along. He's an evil doosh. At least that's what I thought, even back when there was only one of them his "redemption" didn't ring true to me.

Story is a big part of what I look for in a game, I've played through games that were poorly designed and sometimes almost broken just because I wonted to see what happens. The GoW games are the other extream oposit of this. I quit the game because I was forced to play a character I didn't wont to be.

Anyway, I really love your videos, I've been following them for a while now and it's nice to see that I'm not the only one who thinks this way about the character, at least in part anyway.

Keep up the grate work.
~Disthron