Pallindromemordnillap said:
And what purpose does Herakles play apart from gaining the Nemean Cestus? If you're going to use arguments at least be consistent
God Of War is, as far as gameplay is considered, about killing things en masse and defeating creatures of mythology (such as centaurs, cerberus, Titans, gods). On that vein, Herakles fits in quite well as a mid-game boss-battle. Not to mention it deals with his mmmh... downfall from the limelight as the mortal champion of the gods and subsequent jealousy for Kratos and to him pounding Kratos to dust would bring him his own resolution and as he sees it, rightful place as the favourite of Zeus.
For Kratos, I can imagine this is a mirror-moment. He sees in front of him what he might have been if not killing Ares: a loyal lackey of the Olympians, powerful in his own right but shackled, and desperate for any scraps the Olympians might throw his way.
As for Kratos remaining one-dimensional: I never advocated for that. I have never even said that Kratos
is one-dimensional. Simply that the core game is about slaughtering enemies and battling adversity.
Heck, after witnessing his catharsis I doubt anyone can claim that he is one-dimensional.
And since Cratus was the personification of strenght, and if we go with Aiskhylos' depictions, he was an utterly loyal enforcer of Zeus', incapable of showing mercy and even unable to relate to those who did. In that vein, his brutal one-mindedness for revenge makes some sense (even if it
is against Zeus)
Anf finally I see you bringing in one good point:
And before you say anything about this not adding to kratos' character let me point you to the first game where we see no women can replace the void left by his wife. In this game we see not even Aphrodite can, which links into the final scenes in his own mind where he finally forgives himself for killing his family
That I actually hadn't considered and it does fit. This makes the scene only poorly executed instead of superfluous.
If only they had tied it to his dead family a bit better... say by hallucinating his dead wife instead of Aphrodite, or some of her features overlapping with the goddess for a blink of an eye, or a quick flash of memory... and then Kratos having a sad/disappointed/lost-in-memories-that-are-better-than-the-current-reality look even as he leaves the (for the brief moment) satisfied Goddess of Sex on the bed, unaware of his lack of emotional satisfaction.
That kind of sex-scene I would have even been happy with.