Yeah Kratos may be an asshat, but he's a baddest-ass asshat there is.
I mean he's the God of War. He doesn't need to be deep.
Hmm I don't think it is necessarily depth that he needs; it's having more to his character than a guy seeking revenge and just brutally killing anyone who disagrees with him and are immediately treated as not worth living on the same plane of existence as he does.
Actually looking at it; I've outgrown the character. There are a lot of characters in gaming who may have been in 1 game, don't have much depth to their character but end up standing out and being better presented than Kratos.
hows that any different then any other character who doesn't " progress " and does the same shit over and over again? Has Mario installed a security system in his castle yet? Fuck no. He's still an idiot who can't hold onto his woman.
How many Mario games have you played because not all of them are saving Princess Peach.
Even then Mario is a much better character than Kratos mainly due to the multitude of games he's been in.
Has Master Chief had some sort of character progression in any of his games? Hell no. He still just wants to be given a gun so he can save the day.
I don't play Halo so I don't know much about that
] Does Dante give a shit about anything other then killing demons and proving he is the best? Nope.
Dante likes Pizza
And has an overall fun personality. I mean can you imagine Kratos going to a bar? You'd stay the fuck away from him for fear that merely breathing close to him will have him lop your head off.
Heck I'm thinking DmC 2013's Dante/Donte/DINO had more character development to him than Kratos has had in 5 games.
The different thing with Kratos is the fact that he isn't a hero. You aren't playing some tired ass character who is just out to save the world and be a hero. Nah, he just wants revenge and doesn't give a shit how brutal he has to be to get that revenge. He is a pure badass who put the fear into Gods even when he was mortal and just given godlike powers by Athena and shit.
Surely there are various games before GoW where you play as a villain or anti-hero, yet such characters would be more interesting and have a good characterization to them.
If we're talking after GoW1's release, there's the Overlord series for example, and then there's Dungeon Keeper from the 90s.
I think some publications labled Raziel as a villain protagonist for Soul reaver during the PSX days though I can't remember if I myself would call him that.
Would Kain in Blood Omen fit? Hadn't played those particular games myself tbh :X
There is nothing else like it out there in its scope and epicness. I like the fact that he isn't a hero. I got a mile long list of hero's. Not the worst thing in the world to be able to play a badass who will tear a hole in the earths ass if it was a means to him getting what he wanted.
But is he satisfied when he ends up getting what he wants?
And man, the rampage he went on in God of War 3 will never again be matched. He killed like 7 Gods in that game. Awesome.
I'd suspect GoW isn't the only video game series in which you kill half a dozen gods in
I mean heck the Shin Megami Tensei series has you beating up YHWH, Loki, various Fallen Angels and demons etc. long before Kratos ripped a minotaur's head off
Hell SMT3 has you punch them in their goddamn faces and the most terrifying thing in that game is an undead matador.
Even then and despite the MC being silent protagonists they tend to be better characterized than Kartos has been in the 6ish games he's bee in.
I agree that, due to the story narrative of 3, there really needs to be a shift in the lore of the God's he is fighting. Don't really care about how he does it. But him going up against Ra or something could be pretty cool. I could see Santa Monica putting together some pretty epic setpieces set in ancient Egypt. Him fighting Osiris atop the Pyramids or some shit.
On the one hand, battling Mythological pantheons is cool, on the other, why would one want to torture the bastards?
I mean heck it's not like Kratos is enjoying all the slaughter he causes; that's one negative I got about him.