God Of War

In fairness to Kratos, it's not like Greece was in tip-top shape under the Olympians, and it's implied what he does at the end of Go W 3 restored the basic stuff (sea and sun).

Kratos actually put it best when he claimed that gods just mess everything up. And yes, he is including himself when he talks about jerkass gods. Especially himself.

Then again, it is technically Kratos's fault that the Olympians became more jerkish since he released the evils of Pandora's Box. And while I'm up for redemption stories done right and whatnot, let us not forget that Kratos has engaged in such pointless cruelty that it becomes cartoonish (which is probably why he includes himself with the whole disliking gods thing). I don't say it to bash the character, I just don't want a Draco in Leather Pants situation where we forget that he literally destroyed his world for vengeance rather than to tear down the Olympians for the betterment of mankind (which he himself did a fine job of killing them off).

Edit: And I'm just now realizing that the end of the Greek pantheon was because of a pasty dude throwing a massive tantrum.

edited 7th May '18 8:45:40 PM by Kakuzan

See, I don't want a Ron the Death Eater situation.

Greek myth is infamous for having a ton of assholes in it. It's perfectly fitting given Kratos is, as Hera puts it, another bastard of Zeus. I'm perfectly fine with Evil Versus Evil conflicts.

But reminding us, "but wait Kratos did this" strikes me as cherrypicking.

In any other mythology I would see your point, but then I doubt anyone has seriously argued that Kratos was a good person. Hell, most Greek heroes weren't.

edited 8th May '18 12:40:11 AM by Soble

Only one I recall that was good was Odysseus.

And his claim to fame was a Badass Boast to the Olympians that got him lost at sea for years and his entire crew killed by Greek horrors.

Odysseus invaded some random island on his way back home, murdered not only his wife's suitors but also the girls who served him, tricked Ajax into looking insane over a petty contest, and literally couldn't stop bragging to save his life.

Perseus and Theseus were sorta nice. Perseus was so nice even Go W made him more wimpy than anything.

And most Greek heroes felt bad about what atrocities they did eventually.

Here's a question:

About that mural of Tyr they find in Helheim, what do the bottom two symbols represent? I know the upper two are of the Egyption & Greek Gods but what of the other 2? Which one is the Norse one?

I think the lower two are supposed to be Celtic and Shinto.

edited 7th May '18 11:58:22 PM by dmysta3000

So did anyone else feel bad for Sindri and Brokk? They were apparently on good terms with the Giants being a friend of Faye but ended up forging the very weapon Thor used to slaughter most of them.

And once again, I am slightly bothered that Mjolnir once again doesn't have its trademark short handle from the myths. Though at least here it's justified since this series' take on Loki wasn't even born yet. In the myths Loki was the one who sabotaged Mjolnir's creation making the handle shorter.

And while the Leviathan Axe was created in response to Mjolnir, I can't help but wonder if it really can match it. By all accounts Mjolnir is this series' equivalent of the Blade of Olympus being a divine superweapon. Which tbf is true to the myths — the Jotunn were scared shitless of Mjolnir for good reason making it a deterrent not unlike a nuke.

edited 8th May '18 12:08:18 AM by M84

Isn't the handle pretty small in the cutscene and statues?

@alekos Theseus had a pretty bad habit of abducting women.

Perseus was pretty much the only Greek Classical Myth Hero who could be considered heroic even by modern standards.

And yeah, Theseus was kind of a shitbag when it came to women.

edited 8th May '18 2:06:17 AM by M84

All I know of Perseus' is he killed Medusa, rescued Andromeda, & saved his mom. So yeah all things considered he's pretty heroic.

Oooooh well color me even more excited for future games. I've always wanted to see Kratos fight Cú Chulainn.

Hell I'm excited for even more God appearances since the exploration of multiple pantheons has been opened up. Especially with how brutally the Gods are in this series, we might get a truly horrifying portrayal of Cu's warp spasm & general berserker freak outs, worthy of the most fucked up showings of body horror.

edited 8th May '18 2:23:31 AM by slimcoder

An Amazon and little Helen if I'm remembering well. Yeh, Theseus had issues.

Theseus also abandoned Ariadne even after she betrayed her father Minos to help him. Though whether this was of his own volition or because Dionysus told him to do it so he could have Ariadne for himself depends on which version of the myth you've heard.

Like I said, Theseus was pretty shitty to women.

One version of the Perseus myth has him being so kind and forgiving that he even forgave his grandfather Acrisius for setting him and his mother adrift in the sea to die in his attempt to Screw Destiny (Perseus being destined to kill Acrisius). But because You Can't Fight Fate, Acrisius died anyway thanks to a freak gust of wind blowing Perseus' thrown discus straight at his head. At the celebration of their reunion no less.

edited 8th May '18 2:30:36 AM by M84

Well then is a good thing we killed the asshole by smashing his face with a door.

Though Goddamn that myth, poor Perseus. Fate's a real bitch.

Perseus even refused to take up his grandfather's throne out of shame over the accidental kinslaying. But that's fate for you.

Good thing Kratos killed them. Not that this prevented Kratos from fulfilling his own destiny of bringing down Olympus.

That said, there's a chance Kratos might be able to mess with Ragnarok. He's already done it, even if it was for the worse. Mimir points out that the Eternal Winter Fimbulvetr is starting centuries ahead of previous predictions. So maybe the future is not set in stone.

edited 8th May '18 2:37:05 AM by M84

I sometimes think that the "You Can't Fight Fate" trope and fate/destiny in general is less of a vague mystical force, and more of a cumulation of choices and circumstances. I think the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy happens since the root of the prophecy is still there. It would be like trying to prevent a rebellion by violently suppressing dissidents. Because when you get down to how desperately some try to avert an "inevitable outcome", you'll find that often times they don't really do anything more than mildly different. But that thing where Perseus kills his grandfather accidentally is hilarious in how it both came from nowhere, and how it wasn't really Perseus's fault.

Also, while pretty much all Greek heroes were varying degrees of douchebag (even when one knows what "hero" meant to the Greeks), they aren't all that different from modern day antiheroes. It seems we have an obsession with these "flawed" and "relatable" characters who are in actuality pretty terrible.

Honest Trailer is up.

Even Kratos can do dad Jokes.

I can safely say that, barring any DLC or expansions, I'm finished with this game until I feel the urge to do a re-run. I'm almost to level 9, have pretty great gear across the board, and content wise I'm down to a Artifacts, treasure spots, Ravens, and the final Bonus Boss.

Even on the lowest difficulty, I do not have the raw skill/reflexes to kill Sigrun. They hit too hard and take too long to drop, eventually I make a mistake and I can't see any marginal gear upgrades making much of a difference on that front. And any rewards I get from them, beyond bragging rights, do not matter, because there's no real fights after this anyway.

Game was an easy 9+/10 though, probably the most fun I've had with the PS 4 yet (beating out Assassins Creed Origins by a good margin).

edited 9th May '18 11:48:26 AM by Rationalinsanity

Kind of sad the "starring" nickname for Baldr wasn't Conor Mc Baldr or something like that. Guess it would have been too obvious.

Welp. I suck too much to beat the Valkyries so they can rot for all I care and good riddance.