One thing Kaptain Kuba mentioned that I thought was interesting was how Helios isn't just there for fan service, he's there because Kratos may have always, at least, subconsciously remembered him everytime he sees Mimir's severed head, so Helios replacing him makes perfect sense
Considering all the dialogue with Helios.. yeah, that makes sense and is very.. sobering. Poor Helios, wasnt the nicest olympian but sure didnt deserve his fate.
@@KolmManison it's funny watching people play the dlc too because they hear helios going on about how unfair his death was and teasing kratos and they're like "ughh shut up helios you needed to die" and then helios tells the truth of the situation and they're like 🫤 oh
@@ChrisBear1989well let's compare what their peers are doing. Although a much lazier attempt at creating a roguelike with re used animations probably no new voice lines being tlou2 "remastered"
'You have always been more than what others saw.' A great line especially considering that its him talking to his past self. The journey this man has taken has been incredible.
I think what makes Valhalla work is that the game acknowledges the Greek era, its faults, and whatnot, but also showcases the growth of Kratos as a person. Rather than hours of "Yup, we're proud of the Greek era." It's an overview of said era and a closing as well. The game concludes the era well, making it clear that Kratos's actions at the end of the Greek era ultimately paid off. Also, glad Tyr is given more spotlight. I enjoy how he's written. Humble yet wise.
@@Sen.say. Oh yeah man people were falling over themselves for more Greek-era GoW games back then, that's why God Of War: Ascension sold so well.. Spoilers: It didn't, it sold so poorly it nearly killed the franchise.
@@variantgamer9885 Yeah because it was a mediocre game, not because of the Greek Formula. Spent way too much time on multiplayer and stupid non GOW-esque QTEs than actually refining the game.
Kinda sucks that David Jaffe, the OG creator of GOW, isn't a fan of the new direction the series is taking. Yet, the other Devs not only respect GOW's roots, but also know that in order for Kratos to fully complete his arc, they HAD to reference key moments from the Greek Games for the DLC to work. I love Valhalla. I wasn't a big fan of Roguelites before, but this DLC did the concept very well. Yes, it's still frustrating to die and fight bosses all over again, but it teaches you to go beyond your limits and really tests your skill. I hope to see another entry in the GOW franchise. SMS has made something special, and they treat it with the love and respect that it deserves.
Ah to hell with that guy, his career after making games is just making a nuisance of himself and talking absolute rubbish online. Real “old man yells at cloud” stuff. I’m grateful for giving us GOW, but also grateful he has nothing to do with the series anymore.
Ngl if you look at a lot of games he has made he hates characters progressing and changing. Twisted Metal Black for example any ending where a character wants revenge they get it but anytime a character wants anything else they get fucked over
@@godzillazfriction Indeed. Even in his younger days on the first GOW he was a bit clueless tho, he’s lucky he had such a patient team and people like Cory to reel him in. You should look up an old interview of him talking about a concept ending for the first GOW where Kratos becomes the Grim Reaper, it’s absolutely atrocious, literally sounds like a bad fanfiction 😂 he legit has no leg to stand on when talking about what a story should be
@@godzillazfriction I only gave a vague summery of what he said, there’s also stuff about Kratos becoming one of one of the three wise men I believe go have a look, it’s worth a laugh 😂
Some of the lines kratos has at the end of the dlc almost feel like the writers directly calling out how people wrote off the old games and it felt so good to realize they were playing the long game with kratos's journey and it paid off amazingly
I think i know the scene you're referring to, but I saw it differently. I believed it was calling out the people who only saw Kratos as a godkiller and wanted him to stay that way. It's annoying to see a character to go through so much emotional growth, only for the old fans to want him to massively regress into who was because of muh nostalgia. Kratos has always been a deep, emotional character from the beginning, but he was heavily defined by his actions in GOW III by the general public. It was hard for them to see him as any anything else besides that. That's probably why Ascension's story didn't hit with a lot of people: it was the first attempt at an emotional narrative. But he's always been more than a godkiller; more than what others saw
@@Kalibre97 i was like the fuck is he talking about i would of supported everything that the new people were doing with kratos like making him a warrior at peace with him self but fights when his back is against the wall and trys to teach his son life lessons along the way
So I want to regale you with a story. Years ago I was out with my friends at a steakhouse. Our waitress was in her 50s. She overheard us talking about video games and decided to tell us how much she loved playing God of War after a hard night with difficult patrons. For our safety we made sure to tip her extra well.
What Santa Monica has proven with Valhalla once again is that they care about all God of War, and have shown that Kratos was always a deep character, better than anyone could've shown.
Yet you will still have morons pretending he wasn’t and only having googly eyes for these new games and the tlou styled gow glorification. 😂 While trashing the originals. Ya know because modern journalism has warped peoples minds to believe the “originals weren’t that good actually” narratives being taken as fact.
I don’t think we’re ever going to see an end to the “old versus new” God of War debate, where either side finds any way to dismiss the other, despite both versions working best together. The creators of new GoW show a great deal of respect for the older titles, but people are going to see whatever they want to with either version.
Kratos telling his younger self "you were always more than what others saw" had me man. It's Santa Monica just telling that yeah young Kratos was a character with depth too & was more than a rage machine. Also the Tyr fights were amazing, very hectic in the higher difficulties tho.
And showned that he is also a traveller and have some weapons he bringed to his homeland from other civilizations (like when he using Aztec, Egyptian and Japanese weapons which is almost exciting when he showing it)
Kratos’ final speech at the end of the story legitimately brought me to tears. Beautiful writing by people who clearly love the character as much as we do
What's beautiful about this DLC is that it's not just an epilogue for the 2018 and Ragnarok, but also a more direct epilogue for GOW3 than both those games were, as it's Pandora's words that solidify Kratos' resolve to take the throne. That, along with the return to the Greek locations and enemies, really drive that home. As both a longtime fan, and fan of the newer games, it was perfect.
The person who made that article “God of war finally grown up “ should get fired tf you mean god of war always had depth I hate these people who don’t play the game and knows nothing about it, gives these bogus ass claims about the game
Valhalla seriously teaches you some good qualities of life than 90% motivational speakers out there. Facing oneself is the biggest challenge and Kratos finally accepting his past brought tears to my eyes. When he sat on the throne it felt like a LONG last story coming to an end
If anything Saints Monica shows that they can do so thing not only do most game developers can do must most writers can not do. They accepted the character they wrote and created for the Greek saga and moved forward. More often writers either just keep blazing forward or just pretend they didn’t write what they did. Kratos was an unforgivable monster that did everything to satisfy him self, and that fact they were willing to call that out is incredible.
Valhalla is the most fun I've had with Ragnarok since my first playthrough. I played on the max difficulty. Took me so long to figure that last boss out but it was worth it. Loved the random nature of it. I need to play more roguelike/lites
@@CoolSaver God of War is more of a Roguelite. It has elements of roguelikes but isn't fully focused on it. Binding of Issac would be more of a roguelike. Where the game is longer and is hyperfocused on the idea that if ypu die it's permanent. You would have to fully restart unlike Valhalla
Really, my only problem with modern God of War is the rushed story from Ragnarök. Other than that, I absolutely love the direction they took with the series.
They should have introduced more Norse gods into the game and Thor should have get more screen time and stay longer instead of getting killed by Odin, what a big misopportunity
Sonic Frontiers didn't make things derivative or assinine by acknowledging past game's events, by the time of Forces the lore was kind of all over the place and people were starting to wonder if the more recent games even took place in the same canon as the older ones. Frontiers was a breath of fresh air and tried to tie all the lore together which it did pretty well. It was nice to see them finally mentioning some things that seemed completely forgotten about up to now. Whenever they did mention a past event it wasn't just thrown in your face, it had relevance to the story and what was going on with some of the characters. I know this is mainly a GOW video so I'm not trying to get into some huge discussion but I felt that needed to be said.
Santa monica is one of the few developers that truly understand what players want and although i thought ragnarok was OKAY the gameplay was great and valhalla is incredible I will follow ALL of their future projects they deserve all of our support
A couple things... First I believe they were trying to tackle the stories chronologically. So of course they would start form the hydra fight in GoW1. Second, while you might not have enjoyed or cared for the Mimir/Sigurn section, I feel like it was more to show that Valhalla doesn't just target warriors. It challenges everyone, including the smartest man alive, to come to terms with their lives. Their mistakes, truimps ,and even their own failures so that they can move on without regets. It also showed the comraderie between Kratos and Mimir and how they trusted eachother to be so open and how far they both had come. That in itself also shows their respect for the previous games and is a testiment to how far Kratos as a character has come. I'm not trying to say you have to like these bits, just explaining more why I think they were included and like them.
It's a perfect closure to the entire series wrapped in one kick ass dlc. Hell, they could have made a legit game out of it, guessing bout an 8 to 12 hour game each with their own segments...like one goes to each realm kinda like how they did but make it like the normal quests in the game. Glad you did a video on this n was actually waiting for it. You get the series perfectly as I did. Well done 👍
This DLC really did make me secure in what this team was doing with Kratos, Ive always had this underlying chip on my shoulder that the Dev were trying to rid of the old God of War, honestly this was mostly due to how the gaming journalist set the narrative that GOW has finally "GROWN UP". This was an awesome video as always
It was really cool to see his younger self in Valhalla. He looks good and seeing him sitting on his throne, really brought back some nostalgia for me. It was also cool to see him confronting his younger self too. Plus it was cool to see Helios again, and I like that he becomes Mimir's replacement in his journey. Santa Monica really did respect their old games, and they should be.
I just started this dlc today and it's very fun, pretty much just what I wanted. It's nice to be able to just jump in and enjoy the combat and practice different fighting styles without it being broken up by narrative sequences and puzzles. This makes me want to go back and finish the story of the main game now 😊
I loved that they had the Mimir and Sigrun stuff in it. It actually was probably my favorite bit. I want to know as much about Mimir as possible. I truly hope he gets a bigger role somehow in a future game.
@@rustybrooks8916 Well, yeah. I like Mimir, I just think this storyline with Sigrun was complete bonkers. Doesn't ruin anything for me, but I just thought "Well... ok... all of that for her to go travel?".
To be honest, I feel like it’s not appropriate for Kratos to wield Thor’s hammer.. I know he always takes his enemies weapons, but this time I feel like Thor’s hammer should always and only be with Thor and it’s belongs to him and also his daughter, after knowing the story of Thor.. I feel like this is none of Kratos business, I know it’s would have been cool but still Kratos already had his Axe that he could throw around and make it come back to him
I much prefer the Blade of Olympus because Mjolnir would have just been the Leviathan Axe, but with shorter range and lightning effects instead of frost effects.
nope Dual wielding the hammer and the axe it's like wielding a yin and yang the Devs lazy excuse just to not make and spend money on it like bro the GOW collection edition has the MJOLNIr and the GAME itself don't have that how Freaking stupid
My only gripe with Valhalla was the reused executions for enemies like the Cyclops, Manticore, and Minotaur. Other than that it was awesome to finally get some closure to Kratos' story; the main game didn't quite check all the boxes for what I hoped the story would clear up, but Valhalla did so.
didnt even mention how they finally brought back the classic music from the greek games, hearing that classic kratos theme as he confronted his younger self is something that should've been done in the newer games already.
Here are my thoughts upon the story: Kratos isnt known much for thinking in different angles from his own but always has kept an open mind if it made sense or could trust the knowledge or advice. Having kratos console Mimir and give his thoughts was an interesting role reversal to one giving simple advice and reassurance to one that spoke in shortsidedness. I also understood and appreciated that young kratos was silent yet looking at kratos with annoyance. Inner demons have nothing to say that he already knows. Athena and helios already played those roles. Having the young version argue or fight with kratos wouldn't do anything except waste time. He needed to look himself in the mirror and stop hiding. Valhalla was the looking glass and kratos needed to experience what he did while in valhalla. But what I appreciated most was how kratos and tyr addressed the past in angles we may not think of. Tyr was a strong yet wise god who knew kratos better than we'd expect. Although they could just sit and debate to find the answers, Kratos doesnt always do well with that so its a friendly challenge of minds and possibilities. Its great to see the padt be questioned and tested. Theres more depth than what some may think but I truly enjoyed valhalla.
I enjoyed the dialogue between Kratos and Mimir adding a lot of lore as well as revisiting a lot of the darker actions of Kratos Crazy they didn’t touch on Poseidon’s princess tho
The only thing i wish they did was use the finishing moves from the old gow for the minotaur, cyclops, centaur, legionnaires. Its weird they practically did it for the harpy and sirens! And to top it all off, have all the enemies and pots in greek give red orbs!
The truth behind Kratos and his confrontation with the Barbarion Horde caught me by surprise, because the very first God of War game contextualized Kratos as a conquerer. I remember this because of the complaints his wife had about Kratos always going to war, about how it wasn't truly about glory for Sparta, but for Kratos' own ego. So the idea that the fateful clash was done in DEFENSE of Spartan was wholly unexpected.
That’s a really stupid change & goes against the original narrative, Kratos wasn’t a good person, he was a bad man who loved war & willingly joined Ares. It was only after he murdered his own family that he saw the error of his own ways.
@@MannerdDesert7 I went and revisited the initial game. I was right in that Kratos was a conquerer, but the assertion that Kratos was defending Sparta from the Barbarians was also correct. There was no revision here.
@@Dragonpit watch the cutscenes again, at no point do they say Sparta is in danger, the Barbarians are referred to as “the Barbarians in the East” so they’ve obviously gone out of their way to attack the Barbarians, also the Narrator says Kratos “faced the end of his brilliant career” not that Sparta would fall, also when he pleads to Ares he doesn’t say Ares please help me save Sparta, he say “Ares, Destroy my enemies & my life is yours”. The whole point was that Kratos was obsessed with war & conquest & would rather sell his soul to ares than lose in battle, making it that he had no choice & had to protect Sparta completely recontexulises the original game. Kratos choose to serve Ares, that was the whole point.
@@DS-po6zd but it's justified not thrown. The barbarian horde invaded and Kratos have to protect Greece and Sparta particularly from invaders. It's just his duty as a commander and soldier of his homeland much like today's soldiers and commanders fighting when country get invaded by aggressor.
I was gonna say something about the Frontiers comment, and I still don't 100% agree, but yeah the writing might have leaned a bit too hard in trying to show fans that they care about continuity now with all the references. Which after the previous era of games I'd argue it was necessary, but if the next mainline game is as heavy in the callbacks then yeah it's a problem
@@fulcrum6760 Don't there will be more dlc to Ragnarök, especially since we got this one for free which is already amazing. Gotta wait for a new game entirely.
The part where they brought back the blade of Olympus and the monsters just left me open mouthed out of surprise, and the Helios too, and sadly I do saw before playing that he’s going to meet his younger self but not more than that
This is just something I think about but Ultimately everything in kratos's life in Greece and the monster he became and were the biggest part of blame can be traced back to can be summarized by a god of war 2 line that in retrospect is absolutely true that being when speaking to the giant statue of the fates kratos breaks it while declaring "I am what the gods have made me" and while yes choices made by him were clear even those choices come back to manipulation and cruelty from the gods and major point of why they bear the blame themselves just as much if not more so than kratos can be brought up that the prophecy of the marked warrior was ultimately a self fulfilling prophecy that wouldn't have happened if they didn't try to prevent it similarly to cronos eating his children to prevent his own downfall started his downfall and it should be known that a major way prophecy in itself works commonly requires the involved party to know about for it to happen
I will say with the story items, I really wish we got one for the Last Spartan. I would've loved to hear Kratos reflect on him killing the last living Spartan and what that did him
I would have made old kratos fight young kratos first and have tc come back to voice him then have the speech he makes it would have been awesome to hear tc and chris go head to head
I got through the final boss fight after 3 tries. Oddly enough it was by trying the spear instead of the blades. Idk how but it went from my least favorite weapon to my favorite.
Can you please talk about FF16? it's the only game to make me feel the cinematic spectacle and excitement that only GOW3 and Asura's Wrath can provide. would be interested to hear your thoughts on the game.
I was so surprised by all the old kratos in the DLC. I, like you are a huge GOW fan, from the beginning and I thought this was the prefect way to cap it all off. Not a huge fan of ascension either, but working in the oath worked well. Where do you think we're going next with the 3 different weapons Tyr used in combat? Great video
This DLC simultaneously took shots at new fans/journos who downplay old GOW calling Kratos “one-note” and old fans that want old Kratos “angry murder man” back.
@@JackoX901 yeah modern games can have that both and has a lot of option too Devs and the games industry is falling a part cuz of greed let's play safe and the minimal for maximum profit
Santa Monica indeed proved they love their work and the God of War franchise with the great story, but they already proved it before I even started it They made such a game for FREE. The Valhalla DLC is about the size of the PSP games and they gave it away for FREE. 20 years ago that wouldn't have been impressive because DLC barely existed and was always free but nowadays money hungry companies sell you DLC that is just different paints for weapons, different skins, an unlockable character,... or even if they make a proper DLC game they charge you quite a lot for what it is worth. Ragnarok already was a full game and to then make a huge extra part for free is amazing
Young Kratos looks a bit cursed because his body model and face is from old Kratos. It's just a bonus skin, and it's what i wanted since the GoW (2018), damn. Wish there was also a bonus Blades look, you can kinda see how they are different on the back of young Kratos.
I thought remastered og Kratos was cursed too at first glance, but that is only because he keeps older Kratos' bulk and height. Other than that, it's a pretty good model in my eyes.
@godzillazfriction Those videos were fun to watch. I remember watching most of the GoW 3 extras. To me, it was like seeing two art styles blend. It looks a bit off at first, but then you start to appreciate the final product.
Also sidenote love that tyr casually says kratos has a version of ultra instinct nothing to say it’s completely autonomous but hes skilled enough to not fully focus on his fight and focus on introspective thoughts on his life😭😭
Shouldn't be though. You collect permanent stat upgrades that make each run feel a bit better. I'm on a mission to max stats. The bosses are just extra fun along the way.
"A lot of people who criticized it, had no context of what they were criticizing and only based it on second hand opinions" Basically me basing my opinion on GOW 2018 on that Under the Mayo video before it came on the ps plus and I got to play it for myself, and loved it. Not nearly as much as something like God of War 2, but you know, it's as they say, it's impossible to compete with literal perfection. As for The Last of Us 2, I haven't even played the first one, so i couldn't care less about what people think about the second game.
Sales is what matters. The new games are selling a lot more than the OG god of war. Only God of War 3 came close. A lot of casuals and women gamers are buying the Norse God of War games which was never the case for the classic Greek games.
Totally love it since it's just great if you want to focus on combat only, but the PS4 version has a fatal flaw. For some reason, Kratos always falls of the world randomly when he enters doors. You can return to shore, but it will still happen in every run. Essentially soft locking you from finishing a run.
While this DLC does show that Santa Monica do indeed care about classic God of War, the only way I'll be 100% sold on that is if they finally remake/remaster the original games on modern platforms. That will be the ultimate proof in my opinion. Having said that, this DLC was definitely still an amazing love letter to the fans, both new and old.
5:50 Omg I am so glad that someone said this, thank you. Yes, this is one of the main problems with trying to force everything to remain the same in this series. There's always gonna be a point where the same reused formula is going to become old and stale, and at that point the charm of GOW's violent, god-slaying murder fancy is going to lose its appeal.
I feel like if you didn't make the videos you did and also if some people's complaints about the series' past being neglected weren't made then they might not have been able to make this as well as they did. They may have viewed it as constructive criticism & gave them a way to to make it even better by viewing everything from the past games again & not just simply acknowledging it, but also going the extra mile & making it important. As corny as this may sound, it's as if they are living by what they write. They're not sorry, they're trying to be better.
6:03 "So from a storytelling perspective, taking the story in this direction wasn't the smart choice. It was the only choice. Unless they wanted to stop the series altogether." And what would be so wrong with that? Why did GoW 2018 need to exist at all? Why do stories need to continue interminably? Why do these nostalgic capitalizations need to keep happening? Especially when everything short of the odd miracle eats turds? You would think Santa Monica wouldn't have to be told to quit while you're ahead. You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself as the villain. Even if GoW 2018 doesn't suck, even if Ragnarok doesn't suck, it's inevitable. The longer they keep at it, the longer they keep pulling the arm of the slot machine, the closer they get to the crap singularity. How long before Kratos gets capped in the head by Harley Quinn? (Metaphorically speaking. Oh please, for the love of God and all that is wholesome in the cosmos, let that moment not _literally_ happen someday...) Will you still defend it as a change in direction? At some point, you will reach the limit of what you can put up with. The only way out is for the story to end. No reboots. No sequels. No revivals or callbacks. The world is starved for something new, merely _based_ on the old. There may be nothing new under the sun, but those old ideas can still be rearranged in unique ways, perhaps becoming something compelling in its own right. This used to be called "creativity" before the dark times. To me, God of Boy will always represent the greed and rot of modernity from whence it was born. I think the bitterest pill to swallow is that God of War became this boring exercise in awkward combat controls and introspective navel gazing, while Dante's Inferno never finished and remains wallowing in edgy dated cringe to this day. At least God of War was tonally accurate to its bombastic and crude source material.
Part of the problem with the original series is that Kratos was a deep character... in Chains of Olympus, Ghost of Sparta, and the first one. God of War 2 and 3 had Kratos mostly filled with rage and revenge, and those were the two most popular games of the Greek saga I'm pretty sure. Obviously, the other games especially give context for Kratos that justify what Kratos had become (and to some extent already was) by God of War 2 and 3, but combine the fact that 2 and 3 were the most played with recency bias, the fact that God of War 3 had other story problems such as sort-of retconning 2 with the whole box evils thing that was kind of silly, plus some arguably outdated stuff like sex minigames, and it's easy to see how someone could get a wrong impression of the character.
>TLOU II I don't...know if that's a valid comparison considering all the things that came out about the behind the scenes and the overall reaction from people who did play it.
Listening to the Valkyries and mimir's love story was the only thing I disliked about this dlc overall I really enjoyed it. I got goosebumps when I heard the sirens' singing before you fight them lol
Santa Monica does, sweet baby doesn't, The only reason Kratos is treated with respect is because SM aren't dumb enough to outsource their writing to a new company or in general.
Its true. Most gaming discussions on social media is horseshit. To be honest most of social media reviews on really anything(cinema, comics, politics, religion, and cupcakes) is horseshit. With only a few gems. This channel being one of those few gems 😎
They shouldve put the GOW2 Kratos Armor (When he fought the collosus of rhodes) as a reward for beating it...The Goat motif was always better than the wolf motif ares had
5:07 I love these games for the power fantasy, and to change to a defensive Dark Souls combat just goes against the franchise's identity. 8:12 But the DLC was free. Why did you watch your friend play it? 13:41 yeah, that model distracted me from Kratos' monologue. I would have preferred T.C. Carson to have a talk with Christopher Judge. This wrapping up of Kratos' story felt rushed. A simple talk and relaxing sit on the throne just didn't feel right. I didn't know what to expect from this, but I thought the end would hit harder (Especially with how many times you fight Tyr).
Does this help bridge God of War 3 and God of War 4? Because I feel like there is a TON of development in Kratos' character needed to get from the final fight with Zeus and who he is at the beginning of 4 that I just don't see (and on top of that, FEEL) anywhere. I also think the best way to show Kratos' good (wherever it may be inside him) would be to show us more of him before he ever made the deal with Ares. (This is what I had originally hoped Ascension would do). Because if this man could (not knowing he's half god) go up against the gods for both Ares making him kill his original family AND not being able to remove his memory of it happening (the tiniest little thing they probably could've done with a simple snap) he must've been quite fond of Lysandra and Calliope. But there is so little of their life before anything in the games happens that it really is the hinge to whether I give a shit about his journey or not. Do I know what they're like, why he fights the very gods or are is Kratos just upset that someone made him destroy his property? The end of 3 does a little bit, the Elysian fields moment with Calliope tries, but nothing definitely marks in full his relationship to them for me. Plus, it would just be cool to see his "human" side before this all.
i will just never forgive this company for making one of the best, most interesting and most fun hack n slash & platformers into what it is today, and the new stuff is all we will ever get now
@@owensilva9224wrong. And even if it was, that doesn’t negate my point. The series NEEDED a change in gameplay because, as Ascension showed, everyone was getting tired of it.
I don't know if i would say that the entire studio cares. I think it's mostly due to the 2 directors of Valhalla. Cory Barlog never wanted the original theme or anything other than the Blades and the brief apperance of Athena to be the only type of callbacks to the original God Of War. It made GOW 2018 feel almost like a reboot rather than a soft reboot.
What about Athena's force ghost, or the fact his daughter is supposedly in Greek heaven? Is that addressed at all? They really dropped the ball on Kratos never even telling Atreus he had a half sister.
One thing Kaptain Kuba mentioned that I thought was interesting was how Helios isn't just there for fan service, he's there because Kratos may have always, at least, subconsciously remembered him everytime he sees Mimir's severed head, so Helios replacing him makes perfect sense
Considering all the dialogue with Helios.. yeah, that makes sense and is very.. sobering. Poor Helios, wasnt the nicest olympian but sure didnt deserve his fate.
@@KolmManison it's funny watching people play the dlc too because they hear helios going on about how unfair his death was and teasing kratos and they're like "ughh shut up helios you needed to die" and then helios tells the truth of the situation and they're like 🫤 oh
Ironic how a free DLC expansion is higher quality and has more content than most paid DLC in modern AAA games
Well it is free DLC and it probably shouldn't be compared to expansions either but yes I partly agree.
No new animations also you paid 70+$ for this game
@@ChrisBear1989well let's compare what their peers are doing. Although a much lazier attempt at creating a roguelike with re used animations probably no new voice lines being tlou2 "remastered"
@@greedgod5827Bro the game hasn’t even dropped how tf do you know there aren’t new voice lines? You TLOU2 haters are gonna give yourselves ulcers 😂
Why would you compare a DLC from an already developed game (since 2018 btw) to a game fully developed from zero?
'You have always been more than what others saw.'
A great line especially considering that its him talking to his past self. The journey this man has taken has been incredible.
I think what makes Valhalla work is that the game acknowledges the Greek era, its faults, and whatnot, but also showcases the growth of Kratos as a person.
Rather than hours of "Yup, we're proud of the Greek era." It's an overview of said era and a closing as well. The game concludes the era well, making it clear that Kratos's actions at the end of the Greek era ultimately paid off.
Also, glad Tyr is given more spotlight. I enjoy how he's written. Humble yet wise.
Couldn’t have said it any better. Besides just fan service, there isn’t much more we could ask for.
The Greek formula was wearing thin ..is cap 😂😂😂😂
@@Sen.say. Oh yeah man people were falling over themselves for more Greek-era GoW games back then, that's why God Of War: Ascension sold so well..
Spoilers: It didn't, it sold so poorly it nearly killed the franchise.
@@Sen.say.Dude no one played Ascension
@@variantgamer9885 Yeah because it was a mediocre game, not because of the Greek Formula. Spent way too much time on multiplayer and stupid non GOW-esque QTEs than actually refining the game.
Kinda sucks that David Jaffe, the OG creator of GOW, isn't a fan of the new direction the series is taking. Yet, the other Devs not only respect GOW's roots, but also know that in order for Kratos to fully complete his arc, they HAD to reference key moments from the Greek Games for the DLC to work.
I love Valhalla. I wasn't a big fan of Roguelites before, but this DLC did the concept very well. Yes, it's still frustrating to die and fight bosses all over again, but it teaches you to go beyond your limits and really tests your skill. I hope to see another entry in the GOW franchise. SMS has made something special, and they treat it with the love and respect that it deserves.
Ah to hell with that guy, his career after making games is just making a nuisance of himself and talking absolute rubbish online. Real “old man yells at cloud” stuff. I’m grateful for giving us GOW, but also grateful he has nothing to do with the series anymore.
Ngl if you look at a lot of games he has made he hates characters progressing and changing. Twisted Metal Black for example any ending where a character wants revenge they get it but anytime a character wants anything else they get fucked over
@@godzillazfriction Indeed. Even in his younger days on the first GOW he was a bit clueless tho, he’s lucky he had such a patient team and people like Cory to reel him in. You should look up an old interview of him talking about a concept ending for the first GOW where Kratos becomes the Grim Reaper, it’s absolutely atrocious, literally sounds like a bad fanfiction 😂 he legit has no leg to stand on when talking about what a story should be
@@godzillazfriction I only gave a vague summery of what he said, there’s also stuff about Kratos becoming one of one of the three wise men I believe go have a look, it’s worth a laugh 😂
@@godzillazfriction Yeah pretty much, absolutely terrible 🤣
Some of the lines kratos has at the end of the dlc almost feel like the writers directly calling out how people wrote off the old games and it felt so good to realize they were playing the long game with kratos's journey and it paid off amazingly
I think i know the scene you're referring to, but I saw it differently. I believed it was calling out the people who only saw Kratos as a godkiller and wanted him to stay that way. It's annoying to see a character to go through so much emotional growth, only for the old fans to want him to massively regress into who was because of muh nostalgia. Kratos has always been a deep, emotional character from the beginning, but he was heavily defined by his actions in GOW III by the general public. It was hard for them to see him as any anything else besides that. That's probably why Ascension's story didn't hit with a lot of people: it was the first attempt at an emotional narrative. But he's always been more than a godkiller; more than what others saw
the creator got very salty about the new god of war game
@shadowthehedgehog181 I can totally see that, too now that you've pointed it out.
@@torquetheprisonerthat dude is an out of touch clown and if he kept control of the games he would've run the franchise into the ground
@@Kalibre97 i was like the fuck is he talking about i would of supported everything that the new people were doing with kratos like making him a warrior at peace with him self but fights when his back is against the wall and trys to teach his son life lessons along the way
So I want to regale you with a story. Years ago I was out with my friends at a steakhouse. Our waitress was in her 50s. She overheard us talking about video games and decided to tell us how much she loved playing God of War after a hard night with difficult patrons. For our safety we made sure to tip her extra well.
What Santa Monica has proven with Valhalla once again is that they care about all God of War, and have shown that Kratos was always a deep character, better than anyone could've shown.
If only Jak and Daxter got the same treatment
Yet you will still have morons pretending he wasn’t and only having googly eyes for these new games and the tlou styled gow glorification. 😂 While trashing the originals. Ya know because modern journalism has warped peoples minds to believe the “originals weren’t that good actually” narratives being taken as fact.
And its seems like they will continue cooking. And make another masterpiece)
I don’t think we’re ever going to see an end to the “old versus new” God of War debate, where either side finds any way to dismiss the other, despite both versions working best together. The creators of new GoW show a great deal of respect for the older titles, but people are going to see whatever they want to with either version.
Kratos telling his younger self "you were always more than what others saw" had me man. It's Santa Monica just telling that yeah young Kratos was a character with depth too & was more than a rage machine. Also the Tyr fights were amazing, very hectic in the higher difficulties tho.
And showned that he is also a traveller and have some weapons he bringed to his homeland from other civilizations (like when he using Aztec, Egyptian and Japanese weapons which is almost exciting when he showing it)
Kratos’ final speech at the end of the story legitimately brought me to tears. Beautiful writing by people who clearly love the character as much as we do
What's beautiful about this DLC is that it's not just an epilogue for the 2018 and Ragnarok, but also a more direct epilogue for GOW3 than both those games were, as it's Pandora's words that solidify Kratos' resolve to take the throne. That, along with the return to the Greek locations and enemies, really drive that home. As both a longtime fan, and fan of the newer games, it was perfect.
I knew it from the beginning they have not forgotten about the OG Saga
The person who made that article “God of war finally grown up “ should get fired tf you mean god of war always had depth I hate these people who don’t play the game and knows nothing about it, gives these bogus ass claims about the game
Valhalla seriously teaches you some good qualities of life than 90% motivational speakers out there.
Facing oneself is the biggest challenge and Kratos finally accepting his past brought tears to my eyes. When he sat on the throne it felt like a LONG last story coming to an end
If anything Saints Monica shows that they can do so thing not only do most game developers can do must most writers can not do. They accepted the character they wrote and created for the Greek saga and moved forward. More often writers either just keep blazing forward or just pretend they didn’t write what they did.
Kratos was an unforgivable monster that did everything to satisfy him self, and that fact they were willing to call that out is incredible.
Valhalla is the most fun I've had with Ragnarok since my first playthrough. I played on the max difficulty. Took me so long to figure that last boss out but it was worth it. Loved the random nature of it. I need to play more roguelike/lites
What's the difference between rogueLIKE and rogueLITE?
@@CoolSaver God of War is more of a Roguelite. It has elements of roguelikes but isn't fully focused on it. Binding of Issac would be more of a roguelike. Where the game is longer and is hyperfocused on the idea that if ypu die it's permanent. You would have to fully restart unlike Valhalla
Chris Judge does so well, you can tell by simply how he opens the door forcefully, unknowingly but later confidently
Really, my only problem with modern God of War is the rushed story from Ragnarök. Other than that, I absolutely love the direction they took with the series.
Agreed, my Main problem with Ragnarök is the whole thing about that stupid mask that comes out of nowhere.
as much as i love ragnarok the story just felt rushed. they should have delayed it more even if it upset some people
My problem is playing with atreus and making the plot around him
I play gow for kratos nothing more
They should have introduced more Norse gods into the game and Thor should have get more screen time and stay longer instead of getting killed by Odin, what a big misopportunity
I would not have mind it if they did another triology with this one.
Chris delivers that last monologue well. He cares.
This entire dlc will always be the therapy that Kratos needed, and i will die on that hill.
Sonic Frontiers didn't make things derivative or assinine by acknowledging past game's events, by the time of Forces the lore was kind of all over the place and people were starting to wonder if the more recent games even took place in the same canon as the older ones. Frontiers was a breath of fresh air and tried to tie all the lore together which it did pretty well. It was nice to see them finally mentioning some things that seemed completely forgotten about up to now. Whenever they did mention a past event it wasn't just thrown in your face, it had relevance to the story and what was going on with some of the characters. I know this is mainly a GOW video so I'm not trying to get into some huge discussion but I felt that needed to be said.
Glad some can see the significance behind those references.
@@elijahechicagobearsboyd5734 Way too many people just write it off as "thrown in reference," it's annoying tbh
Santa monica is one of the few developers that truly understand what players want and although i thought ragnarok was OKAY the gameplay was great and valhalla is incredible I will follow ALL of their future projects they deserve all of our support
If they truly cared about the old games they would give us cow suit Kratos.
A couple things... First I believe they were trying to tackle the stories chronologically. So of course they would start form the hydra fight in GoW1. Second, while you might not have enjoyed or cared for the Mimir/Sigurn section, I feel like it was more to show that Valhalla doesn't just target warriors. It challenges everyone, including the smartest man alive, to come to terms with their lives. Their mistakes, truimps ,and even their own failures so that they can move on without regets. It also showed the comraderie between Kratos and Mimir and how they trusted eachother to be so open and how far they both had come. That in itself also shows their respect for the previous games and is a testiment to how far Kratos as a character has come.
I'm not trying to say you have to like these bits, just explaining more why I think they were included and like them.
It's a perfect closure to the entire series wrapped in one kick ass dlc. Hell, they could have made a legit game out of it, guessing bout an 8 to 12 hour game each with their own segments...like one goes to each realm kinda like how they did but make it like the normal quests in the game.
Glad you did a video on this n was actually waiting for it. You get the series perfectly as I did. Well done 👍
This DLC really did make me secure in what this team was doing with Kratos, Ive always had this underlying chip on my shoulder that the Dev were trying to rid of the old God of War, honestly this was mostly due to how the gaming journalist set the narrative that GOW has finally "GROWN UP". This was an awesome video as always
It was really cool to see his younger self in Valhalla. He looks good and seeing him sitting on his throne, really brought back some nostalgia for me. It was also cool to see him confronting his younger self too.
Plus it was cool to see Helios again, and I like that he becomes Mimir's replacement in his journey. Santa Monica really did respect their old games, and they should be.
I just started this dlc today and it's very fun, pretty much just what I wanted. It's nice to be able to just jump in and enjoy the combat and practice different fighting styles without it being broken up by narrative sequences and puzzles. This makes me want to go back and finish the story of the main game now 😊
I loved that they had the Mimir and Sigrun stuff in it. It actually was probably my favorite bit. I want to know as much about Mimir as possible. I truly hope he gets a bigger role somehow in a future game.
You’re serious? You liked that? Damn.
@@DS-po6zd Yes, I very much liked that, Mimir is my favorite character.
@@rustybrooks8916 Well, yeah. I like Mimir, I just think this storyline with Sigrun was complete bonkers. Doesn't ruin anything for me, but I just thought "Well... ok... all of that for her to go travel?".
Since the game's release I wanted Mjölnir and was upset we didn't get it, but getting the Blade of Olympus instead was totally worth it
It would've looked weird seeing kratos use it. 😂
To be honest, I feel like it’s not appropriate for Kratos to wield Thor’s hammer.. I know he always takes his enemies weapons, but this time I feel like Thor’s hammer should always and only be with Thor and it’s belongs to him and also his daughter, after knowing the story of Thor.. I feel like this is none of Kratos business, I know it’s would have been cool but still Kratos already had his Axe that he could throw around and make it come back to him
Having Mjolnir would ruin the point of the ax.
I much prefer the Blade of Olympus because Mjolnir would have just been the Leviathan Axe, but with shorter range and lightning effects instead of frost effects.
nope
Dual wielding the hammer and the axe
it's like wielding a yin and yang
the Devs lazy excuse just to not make and spend money on it
like bro the GOW collection edition has the MJOLNIr and the GAME itself don't have that how Freaking stupid
My only gripe with Valhalla was the reused executions for enemies like the Cyclops, Manticore, and Minotaur. Other than that it was awesome to finally get some closure to Kratos' story; the main game didn't quite check all the boxes for what I hoped the story would clear up, but Valhalla did so.
didnt even mention how they finally brought back the classic music from the greek games, hearing that classic kratos theme as he confronted his younger self is something that should've been done in the newer games already.
Here are my thoughts upon the story: Kratos isnt known much for thinking in different angles from his own but always has kept an open mind if it made sense or could trust the knowledge or advice. Having kratos console Mimir and give his thoughts was an interesting role reversal to one giving simple advice and reassurance to one that spoke in shortsidedness. I also understood and appreciated that young kratos was silent yet looking at kratos with annoyance. Inner demons have nothing to say that he already knows. Athena and helios already played those roles. Having the young version argue or fight with kratos wouldn't do anything except waste time. He needed to look himself in the mirror and stop hiding. Valhalla was the looking glass and kratos needed to experience what he did while in valhalla. But what I appreciated most was how kratos and tyr addressed the past in angles we may not think of. Tyr was a strong yet wise god who knew kratos better than we'd expect. Although they could just sit and debate to find the answers, Kratos doesnt always do well with that so its a friendly challenge of minds and possibilities. Its great to see the padt be questioned and tested. Theres more depth than what some may think but I truly enjoyed valhalla.
I enjoyed the dialogue between Kratos and Mimir adding a lot of lore as well as revisiting a lot of the darker actions of Kratos
Crazy they didn’t touch on Poseidon’s princess tho
they care so much and it shows and i legit can not wait for the next game because I know what they have Kratos go thru will be amazing
The only thing i wish they did was use the finishing moves from the old gow for the minotaur, cyclops, centaur, legionnaires. Its weird they practically did it for the harpy and sirens! And to top it all off, have all the enemies and pots in greek give red orbs!
The truth behind Kratos and his confrontation with the Barbarion Horde caught me by surprise, because the very first God of War game contextualized Kratos as a conquerer. I remember this because of the complaints his wife had about Kratos always going to war, about how it wasn't truly about glory for Sparta, but for Kratos' own ego. So the idea that the fateful clash was done in DEFENSE of Spartan was wholly unexpected.
That’s a really stupid change & goes against the original narrative, Kratos wasn’t a good person, he was a bad man who loved war & willingly joined Ares.
It was only after he murdered his own family that he saw the error of his own ways.
@@MannerdDesert7 I went and revisited the initial game. I was right in that Kratos was a conquerer, but the assertion that Kratos was defending Sparta from the Barbarians was also correct. There was no revision here.
@@Dragonpit watch the cutscenes again, at no point do they say Sparta is in danger, the Barbarians are referred to as “the Barbarians in the East” so they’ve obviously gone out of their way to attack the Barbarians, also the Narrator says Kratos “faced the end of his brilliant career” not that Sparta would fall, also when he pleads to Ares he doesn’t say Ares please help me save Sparta, he say “Ares, Destroy my enemies & my life is yours”.
The whole point was that Kratos was obsessed with war & conquest & would rather sell his soul to ares than lose in battle, making it that he had no choice & had to protect Sparta completely recontexulises the original game.
Kratos choose to serve Ares, that was the whole point.
YEah it caught you by surprise because it's not in the original game, lol. They just threw it in there
@@DS-po6zd but it's justified not thrown. The barbarian horde invaded and Kratos have to protect Greece and Sparta particularly from invaders. It's just his duty as a commander and soldier of his homeland much like today's soldiers and commanders fighting when country get invaded by aggressor.
Reminds me of what Kratos said to Sindri after he offered to upgrade the Leviathan Axe. “Do not undo his (Brok’s) work, only improve upon it.”
I was gonna say something about the Frontiers comment, and I still don't 100% agree, but yeah the writing might have leaned a bit too hard in trying to show fans that they care about continuity now with all the references.
Which after the previous era of games I'd argue it was necessary, but if the next mainline game is as heavy in the callbacks then yeah it's a problem
Imo if they did, they should've brought back tc Carson for that last dlc scene. The game was amazing nonetheless
But they don’t care about the original voice actor of kratos. We haven’t forgotten Santa Monica…
Reminds me of Metal Gear Solid 5 when they replaced legendary David Hayter
@@chrischl8003 replacements happen all the time, but they have to show respect to the OG voice actors too.
Knowing how there might be future DLC, maybe one day he will return to voice the Ghost one last time.
@@BigJugsRule92 Agreed. When David Hayter was replaced they didn't even inform him as far as I'm aware of
@@fulcrum6760 Don't there will be more dlc to Ragnarök, especially since we got this one for free which is already amazing. Gotta wait for a new game entirely.
In the trailer for Valhalla the devs of it say that they are fans of the fans and by god they were not kidding.
The dlc provided amazing closure for the end of kratos's journey
The part where they brought back the blade of Olympus and the monsters just left me open mouthed out of surprise, and the Helios too, and sadly I do saw before playing that he’s going to meet his younger self but not more than that
This is just something I think about but Ultimately everything in kratos's life in Greece and the monster he became and were the biggest part of blame can be traced back to can be summarized by a god of war 2 line that in retrospect is absolutely true that being when speaking to the giant statue of the fates kratos breaks it while declaring "I am what the gods have made me" and while yes choices made by him were clear even those choices come back to manipulation and cruelty from the gods and major point of why they bear the blame themselves just as much if not more so than kratos can be brought up that the prophecy of the marked warrior was ultimately a self fulfilling prophecy that wouldn't have happened if they didn't try to prevent it similarly to cronos eating his children to prevent his own downfall started his downfall and it should be known that a major way prophecy in itself works commonly requires the involved party to know about for it to happen
I will say with the story items, I really wish we got one for the Last Spartan. I would've loved to hear Kratos reflect on him killing the last living Spartan and what that did him
He's alive. Remember, GOW2 had Kratos time traveling.
At first I thought you said DOESNT I was about to be like AYO. Had to look twice
Valhalla was therapy with occupational therapist, Tyr.
The work, the conversations lol
I would have made old kratos fight young kratos first and have tc come back to voice him then have the speech he makes it would have been awesome to hear tc and chris go head to head
I got through the final boss fight after 3 tries. Oddly enough it was by trying the spear instead of the blades. Idk how but it went from my least favorite weapon to my favorite.
What gave people the impression they didn’t care about GOW’s history…
Game journalists & I think smtg Cory Barlog once said.
I wonder if people out the US is confusing about the sacrifice room because in other regions that soldier was replaced with an undead one.
Also young Kratos boss should be a reward.
Can you please talk about FF16? it's the only game to make me feel the cinematic spectacle and excitement that only GOW3 and Asura's Wrath can provide. would be interested to hear your thoughts on the game.
If we had a young kratos boss fight. I would've loved to see all of his weapons and abilities in action.
"The death I gave you was unjust... even though you _were_ trying to kill me."
To be fair, Helios was trying to defend himself and Olympus. That and he knows if he dies, the sun will go out and disasters will strike.
You mean it's the opposite way Kratos was the one who started the war against Olympus
Kratos attacked hellos first though
The draupnir spear with the cycling elemental effects 😫
I was so surprised by all the old kratos in the DLC. I, like you are a huge GOW fan, from the beginning and I thought this was the prefect way to cap it all off. Not a huge fan of ascension either, but working in the oath worked well. Where do you think we're going next with the 3 different weapons Tyr used in combat? Great video
Besides being a great add on I think this may have also been a response to jaffe,especially with how old kratos talks to younger kratos
Good to know I'm not the only one who expected a TC Carson cameo at the end
This DLC simultaneously took shots at new fans/journos who downplay old GOW calling Kratos “one-note” and old fans that want old Kratos “angry murder man” back.
@@JackoX901 very cool
@@JackoX901and some people like story-driven games, what’s your point?
I want murder man back
@@JackoX901 yeah modern games can have that both and has a lot of option too
Devs and the games industry is falling a part cuz of greed
let's play safe and the minimal for maximum profit
10:26 Best part of the DLC , bro , they are so cute
Santa Monica indeed proved they love their work and the God of War franchise with the great story, but they already proved it before I even started it
They made such a game for FREE. The Valhalla DLC is about the size of the PSP games and they gave it away for FREE. 20 years ago that wouldn't have been impressive because DLC barely existed and was always free but nowadays money hungry companies sell you DLC that is just different paints for weapons, different skins, an unlockable character,... or even if they make a proper DLC game they charge you quite a lot for what it is worth. Ragnarok already was a full game and to then make a huge extra part for free is amazing
Young Kratos looks a bit cursed because his body model and face is from old Kratos. It's just a bonus skin, and it's what i wanted since the GoW (2018), damn. Wish there was also a bonus Blades look, you can kinda see how they are different on the back of young Kratos.
I thought remastered og Kratos was cursed too at first glance, but that is only because he keeps older Kratos' bulk and height. Other than that, it's a pretty good model in my eyes.
@godzillazfriction Those videos were fun to watch. I remember watching most of the GoW 3 extras.
To me, it was like seeing two art styles blend. It looks a bit off at first, but then you start to appreciate the final product.
@@godzillazfriction Dope
Also sidenote love that tyr casually says kratos has a version of ultra instinct nothing to say it’s completely autonomous but hes skilled enough to not fully focus on his fight and focus on introspective thoughts on his life😭😭
I noticed that at 12:06 Kratos has his old tattoo from god of war 1
Love your content keep up the great work
Remember that part of God of War you liked? Well, have some more.
Tyr is not hard boss but the fact that you have to start over from the shore makes it exhausting
Shouldn't be though. You collect permanent stat upgrades that make each run feel a bit better. I'm on a mission to max stats. The bosses are just extra fun along the way.
"A lot of people who criticized it, had no context of what they were criticizing and only based it on second hand opinions"
Basically me basing my opinion on GOW 2018 on that Under the Mayo video before it came on the ps plus and I got to play it for myself, and loved it. Not nearly as much as something like God of War 2, but you know, it's as they say, it's impossible to compete with literal perfection.
As for The Last of Us 2, I haven't even played the first one, so i couldn't care less about what people think about the second game.
Sales is what matters. The new games are selling a lot more than the OG god of war. Only God of War 3 came close. A lot of casuals and women gamers are buying the Norse God of War games which was never the case for the classic Greek games.
Is that a good thing though?
@@everybodyknowslego Yes, yes it is.
Totally love it since it's just great if you want to focus on combat only, but the PS4 version has a fatal flaw. For some reason, Kratos always falls of the world randomly when he enters doors. You can return to shore, but it will still happen in every run. Essentially soft locking you from finishing a run.
I really wish they got TC Carson onboard. I would love to see Norse Kratos call out Greek Kratos while the latter tries ro justify himself.
While this DLC does show that Santa Monica do indeed care about classic God of War, the only way I'll be 100% sold on that is if they finally remake/remaster the original games on modern platforms. That will be the ultimate proof in my opinion. Having said that, this DLC was definitely still an amazing love letter to the fans, both new and old.
I was expecting young kratos to say
"I did what had to be done"
5:50 Omg I am so glad that someone said this, thank you. Yes, this is one of the main problems with trying to force everything to remain the same in this series. There's always gonna be a point where the same reused formula is going to become old and stale, and at that point the charm of GOW's violent, god-slaying murder fancy is going to lose its appeal.
Perfect DLC
Im more happy that this game sort of acts as almost a reminder to people who've only played the norse games and write off the OG games.
I feel like if you didn't make the videos you did and also if some people's complaints about the series' past being neglected weren't made then they might not have been able to make this as well as they did. They may have viewed it as constructive criticism & gave them a way to to make it even better by viewing everything from the past games again & not just simply acknowledging it, but also going the extra mile & making it important.
As corny as this may sound, it's as if they are living by what they write. They're not sorry, they're trying to be better.
My boy Kurtis could not be in better hands
6:03 "So from a storytelling perspective, taking the story in this direction wasn't the smart choice. It was the only choice. Unless they wanted to stop the series altogether."
And what would be so wrong with that? Why did GoW 2018 need to exist at all? Why do stories need to continue interminably? Why do these nostalgic capitalizations need to keep happening? Especially when everything short of the odd miracle eats turds?
You would think Santa Monica wouldn't have to be told to quit while you're ahead. You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself as the villain. Even if GoW 2018 doesn't suck, even if Ragnarok doesn't suck, it's inevitable. The longer they keep at it, the longer they keep pulling the arm of the slot machine, the closer they get to the crap singularity. How long before Kratos gets capped in the head by Harley Quinn? (Metaphorically speaking. Oh please, for the love of God and all that is wholesome in the cosmos, let that moment not _literally_ happen someday...) Will you still defend it as a change in direction? At some point, you will reach the limit of what you can put up with.
The only way out is for the story to end. No reboots. No sequels. No revivals or callbacks. The world is starved for something new, merely _based_ on the old. There may be nothing new under the sun, but those old ideas can still be rearranged in unique ways, perhaps becoming something compelling in its own right. This used to be called "creativity" before the dark times. To me, God of Boy will always represent the greed and rot of modernity from whence it was born.
I think the bitterest pill to swallow is that God of War became this boring exercise in awkward combat controls and introspective navel gazing, while Dante's Inferno never finished and remains wallowing in edgy dated cringe to this day. At least God of War was tonally accurate to its bombastic and crude source material.
Part of the problem with the original series is that Kratos was a deep character... in Chains of Olympus, Ghost of Sparta, and the first one. God of War 2 and 3 had Kratos mostly filled with rage and revenge, and those were the two most popular games of the Greek saga I'm pretty sure. Obviously, the other games especially give context for Kratos that justify what Kratos had become (and to some extent already was) by God of War 2 and 3, but combine the fact that 2 and 3 were the most played with recency bias, the fact that God of War 3 had other story problems such as sort-of retconning 2 with the whole box evils thing that was kind of silly, plus some arguably outdated stuff like sex minigames, and it's easy to see how someone could get a wrong impression of the character.
He was also pretty deep in Ascension, though that was shortly after he killed his wife and daughter, so still Pre-GoW2.
For a second I thought this was video from the Mayo lol.
>TLOU II
I don't...know if that's a valid comparison considering all the things that came out about the behind the scenes and the overall reaction from people who did play it.
Listening to the Valkyries and mimir's love story was the only thing I disliked about this dlc overall I really enjoyed it. I got goosebumps when I heard the sirens' singing before you fight them lol
disliking that is crazyyy
Santa Monica expanded and, in many ways, improved upon the the classic GOW. As a GOOD sequel should do.
Now if only we got modern remasters of the original trilogy on modern consoles + PC. Heck, if developed right, I'd gladly take a Switch Port
Santa Monica does, sweet baby doesn't, The only reason Kratos is treated with respect is because SM aren't dumb enough to outsource their writing to a new company or in general.
Its true. Most gaming discussions on social media is horseshit. To be honest most of social media reviews on really anything(cinema, comics, politics, religion, and cupcakes) is horseshit. With only a few gems. This channel being one of those few gems 😎
They shouldve put the GOW2 Kratos Armor (When he fought the collosus of rhodes) as a reward for beating it...The Goat motif was always better than the wolf motif ares had
Well he already have that in several colour pallettes plus you can unlock young Kratos.
5:07 I love these games for the power fantasy, and to change to a defensive Dark Souls combat just goes against the franchise's identity.
8:12 But the DLC was free. Why did you watch your friend play it?
13:41 yeah, that model distracted me from Kratos' monologue. I would have preferred T.C. Carson to have a talk with Christopher Judge.
This wrapping up of Kratos' story felt rushed. A simple talk and relaxing sit on the throne just didn't feel right. I didn't know what to expect from this, but I thought the end would hit harder (Especially with how many times you fight Tyr).
Does this help bridge God of War 3 and God of War 4? Because I feel like there is a TON of development in Kratos' character needed to get from the final fight with Zeus and who he is at the beginning of 4 that I just don't see (and on top of that, FEEL) anywhere. I also think the best way to show Kratos' good (wherever it may be inside him) would be to show us more of him before he ever made the deal with Ares. (This is what I had originally hoped Ascension would do). Because if this man could (not knowing he's half god) go up against the gods for both Ares making him kill his original family AND not being able to remove his memory of it happening (the tiniest little thing they probably could've done with a simple snap) he must've been quite fond of Lysandra and Calliope. But there is so little of their life before anything in the games happens that it really is the hinge to whether I give a shit about his journey or not. Do I know what they're like, why he fights the very gods or are is Kratos just upset that someone made him destroy his property? The end of 3 does a little bit, the Elysian fields moment with Calliope tries, but nothing definitely marks in full his relationship to them for me. Plus, it would just be cool to see his "human" side before this all.
I feel like the fan service hit so hard because they held back all this time
i will just never forgive this company for making one of the best, most interesting and most fun hack n slash & platformers into what it is today, and the new stuff is all we will ever get now
You mean the same hack n slash that was going stale? Hence why Ascension did so poorly in comparison?
@@tylerleach8796ragnarok combat is trash
@@owensilva9224wrong. And even if it was, that doesn’t negate my point. The series NEEDED a change in gameplay because, as Ascension showed, everyone was getting tired of it.
@tylerleach8796 ragnarok combat is trash so too is the game
@@owensilva9224 you gonna try to explain your points or keep saying it hoping it will be true
Great Analysis. Great Video. Great Series.
I don't know if i would say that the entire studio cares. I think it's mostly due to the 2 directors of Valhalla.
Cory Barlog never wanted the original theme or anything other than the Blades and the brief apperance of Athena to be the only type of callbacks to the original God Of War.
It made GOW 2018 feel almost like a reboot rather than a soft reboot.
What about Athena's force ghost, or the fact his daughter is supposedly in Greek heaven? Is that addressed at all? They really dropped the ball on Kratos never even telling Atreus he had a half sister.
babe, TBP uploaded!!
now im curious as to how valhalla would affect the "creators" view on the current god of war
as i hear he wasn't a fan with how they took the series