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Cory Barlog joins Crystal Dynamics.

Fezan

Member
He left to work on Mad Max.

only reason to left the studio ? seems strange and why is he not returning back to santa monica now that mad max project is in limbo ?
I loved GOW3 but felt dissapointed.If Cory was at helm of GOW 4 project it will make me a lot more exited
 

StuBurns

Banned
only reason to left the studio ? seems strange and why is he not returning back to santa monica now that mad max project is in limbo ?
I loved GOW3 but felt dissapointed.If Cory was at helm of GOW 4 project it will make me a lot more exited
I don't know, he seemed to take the production of GoW2 pretty rough at times based on the accompanying documentary, but I imagine that's natural. Going back to play second fiddle to Stig would be a bit of a slap in the face though.

To be fair, I don't think the Mad Max game has been his only project since, he was consulting for a few places in the interim I believe.

It's very difficult to gauge how important a single person is within a project as large as a God of War game. It's easy to point fingers and highlight Cory as he was the head of by far the best game, but we can't really say it wouldn't have been just as good had it been with another director. It's a greatly refined iteration of that first game, and Jaffe was still involved in the project. With that in mind, while it's exciting to have a possible second Barlog headed game on the horizon, the excitement could be presumptive. Luckily it seems since Eidos got bought, their projects are being given a lot more time and money, so if he was ever going to work there, now is the time.
 

Himself

Member
Funny that people say they think gow2 is the best in the series and lament the fact that Kratos is full of generic rage in the same sentence when gow2 is pretty much when kratos' rage became so seemingly pointless and overdone.
 

Afrikan

Member
Funny I keep seeing Soul Reaver or Tomb Raider mentioned in this thread, but when I think of Crystal Dynaics....I think of


a20791b12c1ba179c9e05f_m.png
 
cory balrog is living on his past glory. Since gow2 he has done nothing of worth.

it's a logical fallacy to presume that everything he does will be as good as GOW2, but then it's also a logical fallacy to presume that he will continue to produce nothing of worth for the rest of his life.

if someone occasionally makes a great game, why can't i be optimistic about his next one?
 

Vaporizer

Banned
it's a logical fallacy to presume that everything he does will be as good as GOW2, but then it's also a logical fallacy to presume that he will continue to produce nothing of worth for the rest of his life.

if someone occasionally makes a great game, why can't i be optimistic about his next one?

one swallow does not make a summer.

he directed gow2, got a lot of credit for it, bailed out on his team for number 3 and since then been jumping from one hoop to the next.


as of now, he's a one hit wonder.
 
Always humbling when you think you're too good/big for something and you think you're leaving it behind only to come back not long after, with an "okay" look on your face.
 
one swallow does not make a summer.

he directed gow2, got a lot of credit for it, bailed out on his team for number 3 and since then been jumping from one hoop to the next.


as of now, he's a one hit wonder.

yes. but that doesn't preclude him from making another good game now does it?
 

Arsenic

Member
never said that.

but right now, he's just living off a game released in 2007.

The only credit I'd give him is his work in animation. GoW had some of the best in that (he was the lead in both games).

I dont think people should give him all that much credit for GoW2, like it was a project straight from his mind. It's Jaffe's creation, just like MGS is Kojima's....and so on. He was a director that continued the excellence in the game (I didn't like the story direction though).
 

Imbarkus

As Sartre noted in his contemplation on Hell in No Exit, the true horror is other members.
he directed gow2, got a lot of credit for it, bailed out on his team for number 3 and since then been jumping from one hoop to the next.

Dude. The fuck is this shit? "Bailed out on his team"? It's a free market, yo. Take another job if you want. Because these companies sure are just as willing to show your ass to the door when a project's done.

You hatin' on Jaffe because he "bailed" after God of War 1, or the latest Twisted Metal?

Peanut gallery bullshit. Seriously. Good luck to Cory.
 

Vaporizer

Banned
Dude. The fuck is this shit? "Bailed out on his team"? It's a free market, yo. Take another job if you want. Because these companies sure are just as willing to show your ass to the door when a project's done.

You hatin' on Jaffe because he "bailed" after God of War 1, or the latest Twisted Metal?

Peanut gallery bullshit. Seriously. Good luck to Cory.

cory left while gow3 was in full production. If you're going to leave your team make sure you leave them when your project is finished and master disk is sent to sony for release.

not when everyone is stressed out trying to develop the next game. have a look at that god of war 3 team meeting footage when cory bailed out. No body was amused
 

Imbarkus

As Sartre noted in his contemplation on Hell in No Exit, the true horror is other members.
cory left while gow3 was in full production. If you're going to leave your team make sure you leave them when your project is finished and master disk is sent to sony for release.

not when everyone is stressed out trying to develop the next game. have a look at that god of war 3 team meeting footage when cory bailed out. No body was amused

So call Jaffe out for announcing his departure a week before TM's release.

Or better yet, accept the fact that the mercenary nature of the free market doesn't just work one way, and deal with the fact that people are going to stay or go as they please, and that's the way it goes.

The GOW3 team got on just fine under Stig. Any weaknesses the game experienced were mainly because the franchise was so big nobody's creative vision could take charge and end the thing with some appropriate anti-theist balls, rather than the "keep hope alive" crap ending it had.

Good on Cory for moving on when he needed to. Everyone is always stressed out, and there is always a next game. Team was probably better off than having a lead who didn't want to do the thing, and it takes a certain amount of balls to own up to that and own it, rather than phone in your Company Man role.

Amazing how, for some, loyalty is expected, but only as a one way street--towards the company and not towards the employee. West and Zampella traitors too?
 

Totobeni

An blind dancing ho
Bad deal for Crystal Dynamics,GOW 2 was the worst of the main three Kratos games, all over the place pacing and really stupid story, aside of first level/boss fight everything in that game was really bad (even the making of video)
 

Imbarkus

As Sartre noted in his contemplation on Hell in No Exit, the true horror is other members.
the fuck am I reading

Seriously. Only problem I had with the game is I wasn't sure why Kratos was still so STRONGLY a dick in the beginning. Ghost of Sparta cleared that up nicely.

Much as I enjoyed the grandeur, graphics, and scope of #3, it was the worst of the series story-wise. The ghost of the goddess Athena? What? Keep hope alive Kratos, while you destroy the mortal world around you....

...the destruction was for nothing. Topple the gods, topple the titans, topple everything leading mankind but mankind itself--that should have been the ballsy message. Instead the end turned into drivel soup.

Great series overall though, and #3 sure was big and pretty and fun to play. Worst gameplay moments were in the first one, really. Fuck Hades and his spinning blade walkway underworld.
 

ZoddGutts

Member
Why do I get the feeling some people are butt hurt about this guy leaving Sony and than not returning to them, but to some other game studio. Anyways looking forward to what he'll do with Crystal Dynamics.
 
I have respect for what he did after Jaffe left SSM on GOW2. That documentary that came with the GOW HD Collection was really fun to watch. He seems pretty stressed the whole time, so I don't blame him for trying something else. GOW3 had the highest highs in the series IMO, but it also had some bland areas, like the finding Pandora part of the game. Still an amazing game the first time you play it, it completely blew my mind that I was playing it on a PS3.
 

Raonak

Banned
every time, without fail, I read his name as Balrog.

EDIT: Looks like im not the only one (// awesome balrog Imbarkus //);
except the balrog i imagined was the LOTR one.
 

Imbarkus

As Sartre noted in his contemplation on Hell in No Exit, the true horror is other members.
every time, without fail, I read his name as Balrog.

EDIT: Looks like im not the only one (// awesome balrog Imbarkus //);
except the balrog i imagined was the LOTR one.

Thanks man. I had to add street fighter to the google to stop getting images of that LOTR Balrog, I just can't see putting his face on that, but I might give it a go...
 

jackdoe

Member
cory left while gow3 was in full production. If you're going to leave your team make sure you leave them when your project is finished and master disk is sent to sony for release.

not when everyone is stressed out trying to develop the next game. have a look at that god of war 3 team meeting footage when cory bailed out. No body was amused
As seen on the making of videos included in God of War 3. Which was surprising as it didn't sugar coat the situation (much like the Halo 2 documentary with the CE). You could genuinely see that the team felt betrayed at the time.
 

Combichristoffersen

Combovers don't work when there is no hair
Thanks man. I had to add street fighter to the google to stop getting images of that LOTR Balrog, I just can't see putting his face on that, but I might give it a go...

Do it. The SF guy is weaksauce balrog. The LotR one is the awesomesauce balrog.
 

Mechazawa

Member
care to explain?

The "guess" part about how happy Barlog was should only really be taken as that. A guess.

But Avalanche Studios claimed they snapped up Barlog a couple of years ago. Barlog already announced that he was working on a Mad Max game by then.

Enter a couple of months ago about KMMIE snapping up the remnants of Team Bondi:
Which is why, after resisting the impulse for years, and watching imitators clean up, Miller is now finally going to make Mad Max, the game. Backed by Warner Bros, the game version of Fury Road was to be made in Sweden, until Miller saw what Team Bondi could do. He has also acquired the rights to Team Bondi founder Brendan McNamara’s next game, Whore Of The Orient.

Dicey wording, but Barlog's linkedin profile also officially had him listed as a KMMIE employee since 2010.

But then yesterday Avalanche made some pretty cheeky comments about their current projects and maybe Barlog was still working there too, so, fucking, who knows man.
 

Margalis

Banned
Funny that people say they think gow2 is the best in the series and lament the fact that Kratos is full of generic rage in the same sentence when gow2 is pretty much when kratos' rage became so seemingly pointless and overdone.

Seriously this.

The plot of GOW2 was fan-fiction quality and whatever emotional thread that existed from the first game was completely lost.

I don't think GOW2 was better than GOW1, but even if it was it was definitely an example of just taking what worked and adding money to it. More bosses, more weapons, etc. The combat didn't evolve much - in fact in some ways it got worse, with more limited air combos, harder to knock enemies over walls, special moves nerfed in effectiveness. The individual encounters felt like less-carefully designed rehashes from the first game - here is a room with a ceiling that crushes you! Here is a place where you have to fight annoying enemies while pulling a lever or pushing a box! There were even cases where the setup was basically identical to the first game but GOW2 chose a worse camera angle. In terms of level design the rotating dungeon in GOW1 was better than anything in GOW2.

I can see people thinking that it was bigger, better and more badass but it's really hard for me to look at GOW2 and see how the direction made it better rather than simply having the time and money for more content.

That's not to say Barlog did a bad job, just that he delivered a conservative sequel that built off the strengths of the original in expected, predictable ways.

Until GOW as a series changes more dramatically I think you have to give the lion's share of the credit to Jaffe. Every game is the series reads like a straightforward iteration on the first.
 
Seriously this.

The plot of GOW2 was fan-fiction quality and whatever emotional thread that existed from the first game was completely lost.

Pretty much. That plot is impossible to analyse, it makes absolutely no sense. It often seemed like they came up with the set pieces first and then wrote the characters into those situations, which is why they often came across like they were completely irrational. Stig's biggest mistake developing GoW3 was trying to come up with some form of explanation for that irrational bullshit but the fact that he could spot that makes me far more confident in his abilities than the people that constantly whine about him.
 
D

Deleted member 30609

Unconfirmed Member
The God of War story has always been an excuse, not a reason
 

ZoddGutts

Member
lol for caring about the story in an action game. GOW 2 is the best game in the series because it had the best bosses, level design and pacing. Who gives a shit about the story when it was never good to begin with.

The God of War story has always been an excuse, not a reason

.
 
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