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[IbizaPocholo]

Cory Barlog discusses almost cutting Kratos from God of War 2018

Kratos might seem inextricable from God of War, but Sony Santa Monica considered dispensing with him early on in the PS…

www.eurogamer.net

Kratos might seem inextricable from God of War, but Sony Santa Monica considered dispensing with him early on in the PS4 reboot's development, fearing that his anti-heroism had become a liability. During an on-stage stage interview at Gamelab in Barcelona today, game director Cory Barlog discussed the game's change of direction and what almost got hacked out of the package along the way.

"Early in discussion, people were saying we had to get rid of Kratos," Barlog told Stuart Whyte, director of VR Product Development at Sony London, in an hour-long post-mortem. "It was like, 'he's annoying, he's done'." Kratos began life as an anti-hero at a time when anti-heroes in games were scarce, Barlog went on. He was designed to be intensely unlikeable, which made sense back in 2005, but after three mainline games, some members of the God of War team felt the character had run his course.

They suggested a brand new protagonist, arguing that the game's surrounding mythology was more important to the God of War brand than the character. "Kratos is not God of War - Greek mythology is God of War". Barlog, however, argued that there was a great story to tell about rescuing such a man from his worst impulses. "They really did not like the character. They wanted a new character. It took a lot of convincing to make them think it was a good idea."

 

[Punished Miku]

I don't blame his team for entertaining that idea. Kratos was an unlikable, annoying, selfish prick in most of the games. And his dialogue was awful most of the time too.

If you told me pre-2018 that they would have managed to salvage Kratos that much, I would have been pretty skeptical.

Credit to Cory of course, but I give like 50% of the credit for this working to Christopher Judge. They basically just made Teal'c instead of making Kratos. It's pretty much a new character honestly. Same Teal'c humor, same Teal'c dialogue. Teal'c is extremely likable.

 

[MayauMiao]

He's right though. Kratos did become unlikeable as the series goes on. I got tired of Kratos being angry all the time and it made him so one dimension. They did a damn good job redefining him with God of War PS4.

 

[YukiOnna]

Just shows how good Barlog and the writing team were in turning it around and making Kratos actually likable.

 

[nowhat]

Credit to Cory of course, but I give like 50% of the credit for this working to Christopher Judge.

Indeed.

 

[MiyazakiHatesKojima]

I'm getting sick of this Cory guy. Seems like he wants to be the new Kojima of North America.

Not possible when Ken Levine is still breathing (and developing ofcourse).

 

[GHG]

I'd like to see a spin off set in the future after the events of GOW where Atreaus is the main character.

Would be an interesting change of pace plus I love a well done bow and arrow in a game.

 

[Red Crayon Aristocrat]

The whole point of Kratos was that he wasn't meant to be likable, no surprise modern pussified California devs wanted to toss him competently, only to replace him with strong female character number 100000 I'm sure.

Thankfully Barlog is a talented guy and the game turned out really well and dodged the bullet of what it could have been.

 

[ruvikx]

The whole point of Kratos was that he wasn't meant to be likable, no surprise modern pussified California devs wanted to toss him competently, only to replace him with strong female character number 100000 I'm sure.

True. Kratos was a brutal military leader who sold his soul to Ares in return for power & because he didn't want to lose a fight. His greed & arrogance resulted in the deaths of his wife & daughter. Classic Greek tragedy stuff. Only a weirdo would approach this character from a "is he a good role model or not?" perspective, i.e. a perspective (whether admitted or not) which pollutes modern writing, especially among western game devs. Who cares whether he's "likeable", i.e. he's not a freaking Teletubby.

Kratos 2018 for what its worth was completely carboard stereotype writing & boring. They clipped his wings (literally) & removed his most charismatic characteristics with the express goal of turning him into nothing more than a babysitter for his son who (ironically) was himself a really annoying little brat (i.e. "let's replace the "annoying" Kratos circa 2005/2013 with a clichéd brat copied & pasted from the worst Hollywood movies!"). But it looked nice & it made #teamdaddyissues who work in the gaming industry & media feel better about their lives. 10/10.

I happen to prefer the original trilogy & its Kratos a million times over, but perhaps that's just me.

 

[INC]

The whole point of Kratos was that he wasn't meant to be likable, no surprise modern pussified California devs wanted to toss him competently, only to replace him with strong female character number 100000 I'm sure.

Thankfully Barlog is a talented guy the game turned out really well and dodged the bullet of what it could have been.

Indeed that was the whole point of kratos

 

[Red Crayon Aristocrat]

True. Kratos was a brutal military leader who sold his soul to Ares in return for power & because he didn't want to lose a fight. His greed & arrogance resulted in the deaths of his wife & daughter. Classic Greek tragedy stuff. Only a weirdo would approach this character from a "is he a good role model or not?" perspective, i.e. a perspective (whether admitted or not) which pollutes modern writing, especially among western game devs. Who cares whether he's "likeable", i.e. he's not a freaking Teletubby.

Kratos 2018 for what its worth was completely carboard stereotype writing & boring. They clipped his wings (literally) & removed his most charismatic characteristics with the express goal of turning him into nothing more than a babysitter for his son who (ironically) was himself a really annoying little brat (i.e. "let's replace the "annoying" Kratos circa 2005/2013 with a clichéd brat copied & pasted from the worst Hollywood movies!"). But it looked nice & it made #teamdaddyissues who work in the gaming industry & media feel better about their lives. 10/10.

I happen to prefer the original trilogy & its Kratos a million times over, but perhaps that's just me.

There were several games with Kratos like that, all politics aside doing something new with the character was needed, any long running series needs to evolve otherwise it gets stale.

Sure, I miss the edgier era of God of War, but for what it was 2018 was a very good game.

One thing that surprised the hell out of me was the game going ahead and making it clear that this is a world of many different gods, not just the Greek and not even just the addition of the Norse, that was cool as hell.

 

[thelastword]

Kratos was unlikeable only by forum goers who were upset that Sony's PS3 was putting out hit after hit in it's latter years......Lou, Ascension, Dust 514, Ni No Kuni, Dust, Journey Papo & Yo, Ratchet Collection, Sly Cooper, Beyond Two Souls, Dragons Crown, Uncharted 3, Gran Turismo 6, Guacamelee, Puppeteer and on and on and on...….

Only persons who were jealous and wanted to put a spoke in the gamesflow engine…...

 

[Shakka43]

Being a "don't give a shit" prick was Kratos highest quality. I like new Kratos but I'll never dismiss his old persona as a lesser character.

 

[Huevos de Oro]

Fuck Kratos.

 

[Guardian's Light]

I love Kratos, but I agree with the team, Imho his story was enough with 3
I'd like a whole new protagonist, with a totally new backstory, and some new power or gimmick instead of Chaos blades and spartan rage, a breath of fresh air is always a good thing

 

[Guardian's Light]

Btw, thanks to Kratos we had Atreus, who imho is a very likeable guy

 

[LordOfChaos]

I get it. I loved God of War 4 but it only works if you kind of forget that he kind of genocided a lot of humanity last few games. I think the direction is clearly going towards passing the torch probably at the end of this trilogy.

 

[Danjin44]

I get it. I loved God of War 4 but it only works if you kind of forget that he kind of genocided a lot of humanity last few games. I think the direction is clearly going towards passing the torch probably at the end of this trilogy.

I personally think thats what make Kratos in new God of War interesting by knowing what he has done in the past. Thats why I was kind of disappointed in Niflheim they only showed he killing Zeus instead killing his own family, the nightmare he trying to get away for entire series.

 

[LordOfChaos]

I personally think thats what make Kratos in new God of War interesting by knowing what he has done in the past.

I can see that, but he only seemed to consider his consequences in terms of the gods. Being a human person myself, it's kind of like, didn't you just drown Greece?

 

[Guardian's Light]

Would be gold if in the sequel

Spoiler: GOW ENDING SPOILER

Kratos get smashed by Thor, massive time skip, Atreus kills Thor and we play as AN awesome archer God of thunder, of war and some other cool things
Then, in the end, Atreus bring back kratos to Life but since then, he's the new protagonist for all GOW 5-6

 

[TLZ]

Fuck Kratos.

Oh shit. You must be a hard mafaka.

 

[Northeastmonk]

Kratos = God of War. If you don’t believe me ask David Jaffe.

 

[SlashBringingHasher]

"Corry Barlog Discusses almost not making God of War 2018" "Cory Barlog discusses having the ideas for God of War 2018 while in his mom's womb"

when is this going to end? how long do we have to talk about that game?

 

[FranXico]

"Corry Barlog Discusses almost not making God of War 2018" "Cory Barlog discusses having the ideas for God of War 2018 while in his mom's womb"

when is this going to end? how long do we have to talk about that game?

Nobody has to talk about that game, or any game, for that matter. You can just choose to ignore the thread.
For example, I tend to stay out of threads discussing games I am not interested in. Very easy.

 

[thelastword]

I love Kratos, but I agree with the team, Imho his story was enough with 3
I'd like a whole new protagonist, with a totally new backstory, and some new power or gimmick instead of Chaos blades and spartan rage, a breath of fresh air is always a good thing

Then just make another action game, but don't stop giving me my Kratos ragefull, just because you want to play another action game with a different story and aesthetic......

 

[Dirk Benedict]

I don't blame his team for entertaining that idea. Kratos was an unlikable, annoying, selfish prick in most of the games. And his dialogue was awful most of the time too.

If you told me pre-2018 that they would have managed to salvage Kratos that much, I would have been pretty skeptical.

Credit to Cory of course, but I give like 50% of the credit for this working to Christopher Judge. They basically just made Teal'c instead of making Kratos. It's pretty much a new character honestly. Same Teal'c humor, same Teal'c dialogue. Teal'c is extremely likable.

I like how his eyebrows are more on point than most women.

 

[Werewolf Jones]

Kratos as a character got "better" in God of War 2018.

He went from an angry manchild to a man who has grown wise from his mistakes and outbursts.

Gameplay in old God of War was lowkey garbage but Kratos was an EXTREMELY entertaining highlight in those games. So with a shift in gameplay and protagonist it makes sense. Still though, the old Kratos who was smashing women any chance he got, pushing people off of ledges and blaming everyone else but himself for his own problems was amazing.

 

[Dante83]

I like the kratos character even when he was angry. He had reasons to be angry after going through the what he went through with the greek gods. It's not like they made a game around him where he is just angry out of the blue. Some of my fondest memories of the ps2/ps3 era comes from GOW 1-3. He is an awesome character, and to see another dimension of him in the latest game is something else. I actually found atreus to be more annoying, especially around some of the mid parts of the game.

 

[Dacon]

I mean, Kratos kinda did get cut out. The Kratos in GOW4 is pretty damn different from the murdering lunatic of old. Yeah he has a temper, but he's much more mature, thoughtful and patient than he ever was in the old games.