God of War: Ascension (IV)

Sorry, I have worse spelling then usual due to a broken arm.

And I remembered that it;s next month but this is relatively new footage.

Honestly I lost all respect for Kratos when he threw that one woman into the gears.

Admittedly, GOW III was Kratos at his absolute wirst.

Even the developers for this installment think so, too, and hate how people think Kratos as he is then is "cool".

The series became a lot more comprehensible to me when I realized that we are in fact playing as the villain.

That's not exactly what happens — it's a largely accidental murder, and at worse gross negligence, probably — but it's still gross. What he did to that pair of innocent translators back in the second game was premeditated murder though, and far, far worse. Hell, what he does the the Captain in the first game's prologue is pretty damn nasty.

I'm surprised it took so many people so long to come to terms with his behaviour, though it perhaps has something to do with killing women instead of killing men? I dunno.

When was the moment you realised that? When was the moment anyone realised? I think that'd be interesting to consider...

edited 8th Feb '13 10:30:32 PM by Nicknacks

Just about as soon as the second game began, and we saw Kratos was doing the exact same thing Ares was doing during 1.

The amount of effort he went through to get that woman to hold the mechanism in place for a few seconds, when just breaking off a piece of one of the many nearby statues would have sufficed, was pretty suspect.

Like, when he saw her did gears start turning in his head that lead to the idea that she would be the perfect way to keep the gate open? Because that's a pretty roundabout way of thinking for a problem that could have had a much simpler and quicker solution.

But yeah, I too am surprised that people took so long to realize how morally bankrupt Kratos is. Especially when the first game shows that he had a huge ego, got his powers through cowardice(made all the more ironic in GOW 2 when he calls everyone else cowards), and had no problem slaughtering innocents by the bus load, and that's all BEFORE the whole dead family incident.

edited 8th Feb '13 11:02:33 PM by JotunofBoredom

The fact that they completely abandoned the trappings of a Greek Tragedy after the first game without realizing that the entire point of that arc was to make him more human really made him such an awful protagonist.

The first one was understandable, that was classic greek told with modern techniques. After that, he was a dick because that's what they thought his personality was.

I feel like the second game's the strongest of the trilogy. I like the way the narrative compares Kratos to other Greek heroes, and the way it considers his behavior and morality. Feels like a fairly natural extension of his characterization in the premier installment, rather than the unconvincing and rather route arc he was given in the third.

It's kinda cool that the multiplayer Champion shows up early on in the footage.

To me that was less fear of death on Kratos' part and more that he simply couldn't stand to lose a battle. May not be any better, but that's how I saw it.

The characters who aren't morally bankrupt in this setting can probably be counted on one hand. The Olympians and Titans are marginally better simply because they keep the world spinning, but their ethical or moral concern for the world or humanity never exceeds anything beyond a kid getting upset about someone smashing his models. And all the gods' bitching in the third game about Kratos being a meanie seems to stem only from him no longer serving as their personal attack dog, because up until now they've been unconcerned at best about who he kills or what he destroys, as long as it's done in their name.

Kratos is an amoral person, in a mostly amoral setting, ruled by amoral figures.

edited 9th Feb '13 1:32:59 PM by Robotnik

Launch Trailer:

Oh, and the single player Demo is out now, too.

I have to say, even though I am not a fan of the franchise, this demo really impressed me. It's pretty damn good looking and runs very fluidly. Still, I prefer games with more tactile combat; I just don't like the disconnected feeling of the chain blades and how the game constantly jumps in and out of slow-motion to indicate successful hits.

Just played.

I liked the new grapple and physical attack mechanics.

SO!

God of War Ascension, beautiful looking game, eh? Anyone picking this up and not at all interested in the Playstation All-Stars character voucher code included should definitely hit me up.

edited 28th Feb '13 9:20:34 PM by Ryuhza

Wait, voucher for PS All Stars?

There's two new characters releasing for Playstation All-Stars in mid to late March (Zeus and Isaac Clarke), and you can get 'em free with some sort of voucher included in all North American copies of Ascension. Otherwise they're five bucks a pop. I figure there must be some Ascension buyer with no interest in Playstation All-Stars. I've got some interest in Ascension, but I'm trying to save money for when the PS 4 launches, so it'd be much later down the line that I ever buy it.

edited 28th Feb '13 10:07:12 PM by Ryuhza

I actually knew about Issac and Zeus themselves already, but I appreciate the explanation regardless.

Anyway, hmm, I like God of War games, but I don't wanna feel like i'm getting this game just for the sake of a seperate game. I'd have to go and see some gameplay first, as I really have been forgetting about this game.

Putting it out there for any interested and/or generous parties.

Would, anyone mind doing the same for me, for what Ryuhza said? (Giving me the code for Isaac Clarke and Zeus in Playstation All Stars Battle Royale.)

edited 2nd Mar '13 9:30:52 PM by vgm2

I don't know how, ideally it'd just be a one-on-one gift-giving.

Edited what I said to clarify what I ment.

We're not soliciting per se, we're just accepting theoretical future charity.