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God of War Launches Early 2018 (PS4)

Laplasakos said:
Do we have any info about the story? I mean like the reason why Kratos and his son embark on a journey?
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Kratos admired Thor for being one of the few gods as powerful and stupid as him, until Loki told him that Thor actually thought Kratos was a bit of a wanker, so now he and his son are embarking on a quest of revenge.
 
Veelk.

Kratos did some really, silly super uber violent stuff, those sex mini games were dumb, too. However, videogames have evolved.

I see this in a way that they are soft retconning some stuff. He will still be a bad person, but he won't be seen as this caricature person and I think that's what they are using for this redemption arc.

For me, it is working. Mood, design and him having to actually show some responsibility towards his kid gives him a reason to be something else than be angry all the time. Kratos has finally something that is an admirable goal to work towards to. And I personally believe, the team and Cory will succeed with this.
 
Probably already speculated on but any guesses to what the green arrows are? The kid has red ones throughout most of the trailer except that one part
Different elements?
 
Veelk said:
Okay, after a few days of ruminating over this new trailer, I have to say that I'm shocked at how apathetic I am to this new game. Maybe I'll be more excited when it finally comes out.

But here's my position. I've always hated Kratos since game 1. I enjoy the games for the production values, but I thought the combat system was terrible until 3, and I loath Kratos more than just about any other fictional character.

And what this game is basically asking me to do is forget he existed....while still keeping Kratos in continuity. The game is called God of War, with no subtitle or marker. They have a new voice actor, and it's not just a voice change but an acting change. Kratos has a completely new demeanor. He's got noticably less energy. Where he used to kind of put his all his energy into everything he did, now he's just this menacing presence.

And I don't really see how he gets from there to here in a credible way. They never made me believe that Kratos was capable of having a genuine, loving attitude toward his family that his backstory says is the alleged case. I just don't believe that. I didn't believe he could do it then, I don't believe him capable of doing it now. And some of that is kinda showing through since apparently the only life lesson he has to give his brat is "Be a sociopath", but the way he changed his whole demeanor, it's...it's just not believable for me.

And I swear to god, regarding the world serpent, if they pull the same schtick as with the other games before, I am gonna lose it. If they really want to make me believe that Kratos actually matured, when it betrays him, have it actually, truly betray him, and not have it just be Kratos being a drama queen about it.

The combat certainly showed itself to be more alive than what the last trailer showed, but I need to see a lengthy gameplay sequence to be convinced that this has the legs. I notice that all the combat seems to be on the ground, with no more juggling. But more than anything, I'm frustrated they didn't further evolve the GoW3 system, since that was the best iteration of the game's combat system. The thing I always wanted to see from GoW is for it to have a combat system that was atleast approaching the level of the higher end action games, but just doesn't seem like they're interested in that, so I'm thinking it's gonna be more like 1/2 combat, which is simplistic and boring.

The main thing I can see myself playing is for the art design coupled with production values, but its kind of lost it's effect since now everyone is so graphically advanced, and we even have unique designs for mythological-fantasy looking creatures from Dark Souls. As such, actually seeing Jörmungandr was just less impactful than I anticipated it being.


Those are my thoughts. Just...blah. They're trying to take away what I hate about Kratos, but if you take that away, he's literally nothing to me, and they are going to have to pull a hat trick to make me think that Kratos is in character here because right now I don't. And while the combat definitely looks better, arguably on par with the past games, that's not a good thing. They got me hooked for the art, but that's it.
Click to expand...

That took long.
 
I just realized that this baby is winking! Weird and creepy.

TRmfDVq.jpg
 
Veelk said:
Okay, after a few days of ruminating over this new trailer, I have to say that I'm shocked at how apathetic I am to this new game. Maybe I'll be more excited when it finally comes out.

But here's my position. I've always hated Kratos since game 1. I enjoy the games for the production values, but I thought the combat system was terrible until 3, and I loath Kratos more than just about any other fictional character.

And what this game is basically asking me to do is forget he existed....while still keeping Kratos in continuity. The game is called God of War, with no subtitle or marker. They have a new voice actor, and it's not just a voice change but an acting change. Kratos has a completely new demeanor. He's got noticably less energy. Where he used to kind of put his all his energy into everything he did, now he's just this menacing presence.

And I don't really see how he gets from there to here in a credible way. They never made me believe that Kratos was capable of having a genuine, loving attitude toward his family that his backstory says is the alleged case. I just don't believe that. I didn't believe he could do it then, I don't believe him capable of doing it now. And some of that is kinda showing through since apparently the only life lesson he has to give his brat is "Be a sociopath", but the way he changed his whole demeanor, it's...it's just not believable for me.

And I swear to god, regarding the world serpent, if they pull the same schtick as with the other games before, I am gonna lose it. If they really want to make me believe that Kratos actually matured, when it betrays him, have it actually, truly betray him, and not have it just be Kratos being a drama queen about it.

The combat certainly showed itself to be more alive than what the last trailer showed, but I need to see a lengthy gameplay sequence to be convinced that this has the legs. I notice that all the combat seems to be on the ground, with no more juggling. But more than anything, I'm frustrated they didn't further evolve the GoW3 system, since that was the best iteration of the game's combat system. The thing I always wanted to see from GoW is for it to have a combat system that was atleast approaching the level of the higher end action games, but just doesn't seem like they're interested in that, so I'm thinking it's gonna be more like 1/2 combat, which is simplistic and boring.

The main thing I can see myself playing is for the art design coupled with production values, but its kind of lost it's effect since now everyone is so graphically advanced, and we even have unique designs for mythological-fantasy looking creatures from Dark Souls. As such, actually seeing Jörmungandr was just less impactful than I anticipated it being.


Those are my thoughts. Just...blah. They're trying to take away what I hate about Kratos, but if you take that away, he's literally nothing to me, and they are going to have to pull a hat trick to make me think that Kratos is in character here because right now I don't. And while the combat definitely looks better, arguably on par with the past games, that's not a good thing. They got me hooked for the art, but that's it.
Click to expand...
No one is asking you forget anything about Kratos. His past haunting him is very much part of story.
 
Kratos did have a family once. And the first game even did a good job at showing the tragedy, grief, and rage he had in his actions destroying that family.

The other games just had Kratos as a raging brute. This looks like it'll be a return to form in terms of actually giving Kratos character and nuance
 
Razgreez said:
Thought Cory made it clear in and interview that he is Kratos's biological son
Click to expand...

Oh, no idea then y only he is able to understand the serpent.

Laplasakos said:
Do we have any info about the story? I mean like the reason why Kratos and his son embark on a journey?
Click to expand...

Someone posted earlier that the pouch they are carrying may have her mother's ashes which they are carrying to some specific location. Cant find that post, this thread is moving fast :)

Loved all previous GOW games, but never cared much about the story/settings earlier. It was all about just killing everyone in sight. This time however I'm enjoying all the references ppl are posting here regarding Norse mythology trying to figure out what the plot could be. From the pic someone posted earlier -
9-norse-worlds-Magnus-Chase.jpg


I guess that beautiful looking place which Kratos was passing through on boat was Alfheim. Niflheim and Jotunheim were also there in the trailer.Home of the dwarves too. Looking at Kratos's history, most probably he will visit Helheim at some point too :)
 
fatherKratos said:
Someone posted earlier that the pouch they are carrying may have her mother's ashes which they are carrying to some specific location. Cant find that post, this thread is moving fast :)
Click to expand...

That was me about the ashes, and I'm completely speculating based on the sand/ash art story they did before the panel, plus the personal journey comment and whatever is in that pouch cleary has sentimental value.
 
fatherKratos said:
I guess that beautiful looking place which Kratos was passing through on boat was Alfheim. Niflheim and Jotunheim were also there in the trailer.Home of the dwarves too. Looking at Kratos's history, most probably he will visit Helheim at some point too :)
Click to expand...
Wonder if this is Helheim. It had a distinctly ruined/hellish vibe in that clip compared to the other regions shown

wkKnhEI.png
 
Drencrom said:
There's a free camera now, just spin it and you can admire his beard as much as you want.
Click to expand...
I was just wondering about that actually:
Son Of Sparda said:
I wonder if the camera is stuck to Kartos' back so if we rotate it, then Kratos will follow the camera and rotates with it.

I hope not. I like seeing main characters from different angles.
Click to expand...
Do we know, for sure that the camera won't be focused on his back? All the gameplay shots from the trailer showed his backside.
 
Son Of Sparda said:
I was just wondering about that actually:

Do we know, for sure that the camera won't be focused on his back? All the gameplay shots from the trailer showed his backside.
Click to expand...

usually in game where the camera is locked to characters back, you only attack enemies in front of you, right?
in this gif, you can still rotate the camera while still attacking enemies in different direction from the camera, so hopefully it's a real free camera where you can rotate and see Kratos from the front.
BEcKMZG.gif
 
fatherKratos said:
- Or this boy and his mother somehow/somewhere found him and took care of him
after that GOW3 ending.
- Or Kratos might have found this boy and his mother in the forest being attacked, and either could not save her or killed her accidentally(again..lol)
Click to expand...

Laplasakos said:
Do we have any info about the story? I mean like the reason why Kratos and his son embark on a journey?
Click to expand...

If you watch the sand story shown before the panel:
Kratos and his wife (who looks different from the woman shown in the trailer) are carrying the new born Atreus in the woods next to a tree.
Then when the boy grew up, his mother taught him their native language then how to hunt (like what Kratos said in previous trailer).
Then later sth happened to the woman, like getting burnt or kidnapped or swallowed by sth.
Then both Kratos and his son go on boat to seek the snake which may happen at the beginning of the game like what I mentioned in a previous post, maybe to ask him where the mother was kidnapped (because what happeend to her seems like either fire or swallowed by a giant snake).

Edit:
fatherKratos said:
Oh, no idea then y only he is able to understand the serpent.
Someone posted earlier that the pouch they are carrying may have her mother's ashes which they are carrying to some specific location. Cant find that post, this thread is moving fast :)
Click to expand...

Now I am almost sure the mother was burnt and died.
Atreus is cursed like his father and carried both his scars and the ashes of his mother on him when she died that is why he looks white too. But he doesn't have the pwoer fo his father.
 
I'm so glad to see that his axe is attached to his back by a some kind of hook, always hated how the blades of chaos would just magically stick to his back before.
 
kpaadet said:
I'm so glad to see that his axe is attached to his back by a some kind of hook, always hated how the blades of chaos would just magically stick to his back before.
Click to expand...

The physics in this game are just so realistic. Not just atatched to a hook but the axe swings and jiggles in that hook when Kratos runs.
Btw, the axe is in form of snake which is in form of Omega.
 
More_Badass said:
Kratos did have a family once. And the first game even did a good job at showing the tragedy, grief, and rage he had in his actions destroying that family.

The other games just had Kratos as a raging brute. This looks like it'll be a return to form in terms of actually giving Kratos character and nuance
Click to expand...

https://youtu.be/rI5z93eTuKw?t=267

That is the one and only glimpse we have of the actual Kratos family. The wife begging to him to stop his needless carnage and Kratos' response being "Lol, bitch, please". Everyone else is a hallucination by Ares or just word of mouth. I mean, she probably didn't actually start bleeding out her eyes just then, but the narration suggests this was the general dynamic he had with his spouse. I would also point out that Kratos' tragedy, grief and rage is only about the pain he feels, the nightmares he suffers. Everytime he talks to the gods about fixing his situation, it's only about "can you get the nightmares to stop", as if it's just an ever present wound he needs to get rid of. Despite having the Gods on the ropes for what he wants, he never thinks to demand, oh, that they bring his family back from Hades or anything.

So yeah, like I said, I don't buy that Kratos would have evver been a good husband and loving father. I'm not saying that he canonically wasn't according to the fiction of the game, because it's obvious they don't want you to think Kratos would be an abusive figure and that he honestly does feel bad about losing his family. But the game just doesn't give me anything to make that backstory seem credible, so, yeah, I do see Kratos as nothing but a raging brute. First game included.
 
Kenzodielocke said:
That dude in the golden armour.

Is this dude like "Shit, wow that was close" or "You got this axe :O?" ?

Talking about the last facial expression.
Click to expand...

All the written and video recations laughed at him. He is by far the best NPC I have seen in such type of games. Animations and voice acting look very convincing. I hope we see much humour from him.
 
Callibretto said:
usually in game where the camera is locked to characters back, you only attack enemies in front of you, right?
in this gif, you can still rotate the camera while still attacking enemies in different direction from the camera, so hopefully it's a real free camera where you can rotate and see Kratos from the front.
BEcKMZG.gif
Click to expand...
ixno6h52F.gif
 
Going to get hate for this, but I like how the combat looks now compared to the old God of War games.

I was a little worried during the reveal, attacks looked slow, but even I can't remember last years reveal that well, or combat looks faster than what they showed off last year.
 
Skeeter49 said:
Going to get hate for this, but I like how the combat looks now compared to the old God of War games.

I was a little worried during the reveal, attacks looked slow, but even I can't remember last years reveal that well, or combat looks faster than what they showed off last year.
Click to expand...

Last year reveal definitely made a bunch of people worried about the combat being slow and not flashy, since old God of War is all about flashy combat.
But you can already see a very similar style of crowd control attack compared to the old blade of chaos when Kratos throws his axe in a circular spin.
AC09Y8J.gif
 
Corpsepyre said:
God of War - Deities, Families, And Kratos' New Life

New interview over at Game Informer.
Click to expand...

So this is interesting, and was sort of mentioned in the panel.

The game is still called "God" of War. Kratos is in a new setting with a new pantheon. What can you say about the gods' roles?
Gods are definitely present. We're taking place in a time that is pre-Viking, pre-migration. This is a time when the Aesir and the Vanir gods, the giants, and monsters all roam Midgard. So Midgard is very populated, and you're going to be running into various gods throughout. They're always present.
Click to expand...

Sounds like we will be on Midgard and not realm hopping? To contradict this, a lot of the leaked concept art definitely contained different realms, or at least the Vanaheim realm I think.
 
PLASTICA-MAN said:
If you watch the sand story shown before the panel:
Kratos and his wife (who looks different from the woman shown in the trailer) are carrying the new born Atreus in the woods next to a tree.
Then when the boy grew up, his mother taught him their native language then how to hunt (like what Kratos said in previous trailer).
Then later sth happened to the woman, like getting burnt or kidnapped or swallowed by sth.
Then both Kratos and his son go on boat to seek the snake which may happen at the beginning of the game like what I mentioned in a previous post, maybe to ask him where the mother was kidnapped (because what happeend to her seems like either fire or swallowed by a giant snake).

Edit:


Now I am almost sure the mother was burnt and died.
Atreus is cursed like his father and carried both his scars and the ashes of his mother on him when she died that is why he looks white too. But he doesn't have the pwoer fo his father.
Click to expand...

Oh i didn't noticed any of that. Thanks for mentioning all this.
 
Laplasakos said:
Oh i didn't noticed any of that. Thanks for mentioning all this.
Click to expand...

You are welcome.
Another thing: Seeing the sand story and the trailer: Atreus carrying the same curse of his father: since he inherited some of his father's powers but maybe also his rage.
I think, from the sand story, that after his mom taught him the language and the hunting, sth triggered in the son and he burnt his mother with his uncontrollable powers just like how Kratos killed his wife and daughter blindly in anger. And then he got his mother's ashes on his body like his father, hence the curse, but not the strength since he can't control his powers. This what made his relation with his father so ambiguous: his father calls him boy, and he calls him sir. They look very distant because Kratos still didn't forgive him for what he has done to his wife, yet he still secretely tries to reach out for him unsuccessfully like in last year's trailer. I bet Kratos is tryingto make him master his powers since.
 
Whew sounds awesome.
If you have the linear action of previous God of War games on one end of a spectrum, and open-world on the other, where does this new God of War fall?
I would say that action/adventure is squarely where we are suited. We’re definitely not open-world, but we’re kind of this interesting "super-wide linear" in the sense that the world has a greater sense of scale. We’re really encouraging the player to say “Hey, what’s that over there? I’d like to go check it out.” We’re not forcing them. We don’t force you to go find something, but when you do, you are rewarded. You are rewarded with things like “Wow, there’s an entire level over here!” And I think that sense of discovery is so important. Linearity can drive you through this fantastic story – you’re always going to be driven forward by the development and arc of the characters – but at any given point in this game, you can pull the lever on the bus and stop to look around, and then get back on the bus and keep going. Seamlessly integrating that, making it feel like it’s not a chore and you’re rewarded for it, that’s the big trick of this game. That’s the big play, to make it feel like you’re not just going down a hallway. To always feel like there’s a “why.”
Click to expand...
http://www.gameinformer.com/games/g...2017/06/14/god-of-war-director-interview.aspx
 
'Kratos has a family again, but that has gone badly for him in the past. The original games hit that note frequently; how does the history with his family in Greece figure into the new game?

I think that, for those who know, it’s always present. It’s always that “left unsaid” thing. This is not something that we spend a tremendous amount of time on, but those who know, you start to understand a little bit of the psychology of what he’s doing. Because you’re right – he made a bad decision, and that decision had some horrible consequences. Consequences that he wears on his skin for the rest of his life. It’s definitely not something he wants to talk about that often – but it is the representation of the mistakes he doesn’t want to make in the future. So he’s constantly aware of it. But his son is not. His wife is not.

---

Hmm, so that woman in the trailer maybe?
 
ced said:
So this is interesting, and was sort of mentioned in the panel.



Sounds like we will be on Midgard and not realm hopping? To contradict this, a lot of the leaked concept art definitely contained different realms, or at least the Vanaheim realm I think.
Click to expand...

I think we will be venturing into the other worlds. Will be a missed opportunity if we don't.
 
Lys Skygge said:
Potentially missing "whole optional levels" reminds me of the Souls series. I love playing Souls games blind, and after beating it discovering that I'd missed entire areas to explore and bosses to fight. Hopefully God of War includes optional bosses in addition to optional areas.
Click to expand...

That's what I got out of this, and I hope that's the case.
 
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