Kratos was more motivated by Guilt and Self-hate than pure rage in the original trilogy. He was so mad at himself he raged out at literally everything around him and destroyed Greece
@@blackkun0524 Didn't he literally poke out Poseidon's eyes and snap his neck, causing 97% of greece's population to die from floods? Doesn't sound unintentional to me.
@@blackkun0524 If you're talking about Athena, that was accidental, if you are talking about Hephaestus, he wasn't a friend to kratos, more of a means to an end, you can even tell in krato's voice and the way he talks and acts that he doesn't really consider anyone a friend anymore. He thinks of people more as tools by GOW 3. Of course, the only exception being Pandora, but only because she reminded him of his own daughter and how he ended her life, and he didn't want the same thing happening to Pandora.
Ya know, a lot of people would say that everyone just needs to play the old games again, but there's one other thing they need to do, amd that's not shut their brains off during the cutscenes. The whole reason everyone remembers the first game as "no talk, me angy" is because they shut their brains off during the cutscenes. They rarely ever react to him jumping off the cliff because they shut their brains off.
Isn’t the depiction of deep Kratos done as a secondary trait of the games then? I played the three games and I love ‘em. Do not think it’s all just angry Kratos, the story and character complexity is a lot weaker compared to the reboot though.
It’s so sad that Kratos the popular character of all times is the most misunderstood character, Fans and Fanboys don’t understand that Kratos was calm and reasonable ever since Gow1
@@JAMES_IS_COOL1227 but I would say Goku is more misunderstood than Vegeta, so many times I’ve heard Goku is a bad father even tho he sacrificed himself to save his family and friends and the planet, you can’t expect him to be your typical human father.. it’s like they want Goku to be Gohan and Gohan to be Goku
@@JAMES_IS_COOL1227 because the “Goku always wants to train and fight and he doesn’t care about anything else his family nothing and he is selfish very dumb one dimensional Saiyan fighter and forever to be a bad father and a bad Hero” and “Kratos always wants to get his Revenge against the gods and he is angry mindless brutal who kills anyone he came across and screams all the time and he is bad character” Are they really fans of these characters? cause it’s sounds like they are haters who knows little to nothing about them and don’t even try to understand them and see from their point of view
Great video. People seriously don't understand that Kratos is suppose to be a classic Greek tragedy character and your video explains it perfectly. Hopefully, people actually play the games, understand the character, and stop spreading the "kratos is angry 24/7" meme.
@@grandcanyon-fu9zt His writing was fine. You don't exactly jump into a hack n slash expecting grounbreaking storytelling, just enough to know what was going on.
Thank you; it's so satisfying to hear someone else agree that not even _Santa Monica Studios_ understands the character _they created._ They only see Kratos as a _monster,_ despite the fact that they should know _better._
You do remember all the innocent people he killed right? Through gameplay and cut scenes he didn't give a shit at all. The person you guys are describing doesn't exist. Just newscasts Hitler like to paint, doesn't make him an artist instead. He's still mostly and always, a monster
@@johndodo2062 you do realize that all those innocent people he killed was during his servitude to Ares, and during Pandora's Temple, he expresses regret over what he has done and what he has become. Pay attention to the video next time, Junior.
Thank you and this needs to be clear. It STILL haunts me how cory himself painted kratos as a raging demon who only kills with no remorse. While it was the case in god of war 3, we can't forget about what gow1 showed. Hell, what about chains of olympus and ghost of sparta? What about his sobbing to seeing his wife in that one kraken cutscene? pisses me off the amount of "god of war matured" shid i see everyday. Tarded people all around stg.
He's kind of right though if you think about how he's portrayed in the games. In God of War 1 they love to show him hacking away at innocent people in cutscenes. Even though it's in the past it lets you know you're playing an anti hero.Then in gameplay the boat captain, "Thanks for coming back" Then he stares him in the face with anger, "I didn't come back for you" let's him drop. Then again in Hades he stabs him in the back and then after he's up he turns around and kicks him off the ledge. How about the soldier begging for his life and Kratos burns him up? All the innocent people running around they want you to kill to get health orbs. Throughout all the games there are innocent people in his way and he loves to kill them to get them out of his way.They want you to see him as a raging demon.
So true Zesty love your gow content btw I can never make it into those streams though but I literary watch your gow 3 randomizer when I'm eating sometimes keep grinding those uploads man. Kratos has always been a great character and not someone who was always out to kill every mf he saw like in gow 3. although he wasn't out to kill some people like Hephaestus but he did cause he tried to kill kratos first but anyways he hasn't always been like how he was shown in gow 3.
plus the voice thing was a evolution of voice acting in gow 1 to 2 and chains of olympus and the way I saw it was that kratos has finally achieved for what he has been fighting for 10 years which is killing ares but primarily getting rid of the visions that haunt him and so his way of speaking to almost everyone is somber but there are still moments in chains of olympus that kratos uses a somber voice and in the end, kratos tells atlas what he has to sau which this youtuber completely missed for no reason
"Two, he responded to every challenge or every insult with extreme violence" Fucking Hercules: stands in front of kratos and wants to challenge him Kratos: this isnt between us hercules
I really hate that the creators don't stand by OG Kratos, even when journalists who never played the original games take a crap on him. The series shouldn't disrespect its roots, nor should the creators.
Well, Santa Monica admitted that the GOW Reboot repurposed him by and and for people who have contempt for the original character. It's confirmed with Cory Balrog in that one Eurogamer article promoting the reboots.
Good points made here, Kratos was pretty calm and reasonable in the first game. In defense of GoW5 though Freya was grieving and rightly upset about the death of her son, Kratos understood this and saw past her rage and mistreatment of him, especially since he was the source of that grief. He also responded politely and intelligently, though his tone bore his frustration. I don't know about you, but I didn't see a pushover there.
I don't wanna sound like a misogynist here but maybe the fact that everyone saw kratos as a pushover in those scenes is because how unbelievably annoying freya's voice is, I swear every time I hear her shouting I need to close myself in the bathroom because of the intense feeling that I'm gonna throw up.
I entirely agree with you about how Kratos changed over the course of the main games despite the awkward anger from Chains of Olympus and Ascension. However I feel like the character development he gets in the new games is important too. Kratos isn't sad that he used to be a rage monster. He's sad because he accidentally destroyed his homeland and is still haunted by the memories of killing his wife and daughter despite all the years that have passed. He isn't a pushover in Ragnarok, he's just scared of once again destroying an entire realm. What's the point of raising a son to be better than you if you can literally end the entire world?
Kratos killed Persephone because Helios and Zeus empowered him. Helios blasts Kratos with some of his abilities while Zeus drops his gauntlet filled with his power, sort of like how the Blade of Olympus could channel Kratos' energy and drain it. Kratos also mentions multiple times in Chains of Olympus that he is frustrated with the gods but still loyal to them. The difference between GOW1 and Chains of Olympus is the difference between an angry kid who sees no hope vs that same kid being offered ONE final chance to get what he wanted. It's not inconsistent - it's emotional ups and downs. The actual plot of Chains of Olympus is literally Kratos just fighting Persians and then three godly entities randomly decide to attempt to destroy all of reality - it makes sense Kratos would be fed up with their shit when he (a mortal) is loyal to Olympus but they (Persephone, Atlas, Charon) can't handle their emotions and threaten to kill everyone. You even have the scene where Kratos reunites with Calliope, where he gives up everything to be with her and only returns to save the world because of his LOYALTY to the gods. He had EVERYTHING he ever wanted and could have forsaken the world, but he did so because he had the oath to keep. Honestly, it's not fair to analyze a game you admit you've never played. Pretty much all these criticisms would be cleared up if you actually took the time to play it. That being said, I agree with pretty much everything else in the video except for some of the Ragnarok stuff. It doesn't really make much sense to say that it's bad Kratos is judged by his GOW3 interpretation in all games...and then proceed to judge Kratos by his older incarnations for his actions in another game. It shows the growth that he doesn't care about Atreus talking down to him. The whole point about him working with Freya is that he has the chance to help someone who underwent his entire Greek saga arc in just a few years. If he abandoned Freya, he'd essentially be abandoning his past self. Not to mention, that nice moment at the end where Kratos decides to do things Atreus' way does not also include the Midgardians - it also includes Sif, Thrud, and Thor. Kratos SPARED Thor at the end of the game because of what Atreus says, which does not contradict his earlier claim that killing in self-defense is moral - it refines it. The whole point is that Kratos is becoming more like a god of peace and fulfills Tyr's role in the pantheon, which the ending of Ragnarok outlines perfectly. I wholeheartedly agree Jerkass Kratos is a real thing and Santa Monica Studios succeeds in writing a good character by complete accident, but Kratos was probably the one thing in Ragnarok that was basically 100% well done. There were some moments where that Spartan rage should have shown up more often, but other than that he was a great depiction of his development.
He didn't abandono Caliope because of some imaginary oath to the gods, it was because if Atlas and Persephone succeeded in destroying the world, Caliope would have no afterlife...
@@atlasgraham154 Not my fault the "game" is trash. Tell me how is that shit deserving of more than 5/10, when the gameplay should've been way better, we could've had dual wielding, have the capacity to switch characters during battle (like any proper rpg), jump + air combos, future Atreus & another weapon. Why is the plot full of inconcistencies, like why neither Atreus nor Kratos understand that Durlinn is a traitor & the weird behavior of Tyr is because he is Odin disguised? Or are they just braindead in this entry? & yes, it IS a plot hole or an inconsistency, 'cause they are SUPPOSED to be extremely smart, Kratos back in Greece solved giant puzzles crafted by Daedalus, the creator of the labyrinth & Atreus is his son... why couldn't they see right through fake Týr? Why is Odin sooooo dumb? I mean, you don't go to some1 who is searching for a supposed dead man & show/express you're bothered or annoyed by it. It basically confirms the dude is ALIVE! Ok it was so that he could trick them & gather info by posing as him, but he NEVER used anything he learned among his enemies to have a leg up, so he's a moron regardless
I have a few points in defense of Chains of Olympus. To me, it makes sense that Kratos is more frustrated at the gods in CoO because in God of War 1 he is led to believe that killing Ares would be his final task before he is freed from his memories. If I’m being told that I’m one step away from my goal, I think I’d be calmer than if I was being told to do things without having any idea of when I’d be done. The uncertainty would definitely leave me restless, so Kratos feeling the same way isn’t inconsistent at all really. Also, him being distrustful of the gods despite doing everything they tell him has a simple explanation: The gods are the only people who can help him. You said this yourself in the video, and Kratos also says this in Chains of Olympus when talking to Atlas. As far as I’m concerned the consistency is there. I do agree with your points about Kratos being able to kill Persephone and Charon without Pandora’s box, but personally I’m willing to over look it because in the god of war universe they seem to be more minor gods. In all of the games they change a lot of the actual mythology, so it’s not a super big leap to say that Charon plays a similar role to someone like Theseus. Same with Persephone, who I’d say is treated differently than someone like her husband Hades. In general though, I agree that Kratos is a heavily misunderstood character. I appreciate the attempt to spread awareness about that!
Kratos killed the furies which are primordials so it’s not too far fetched him killing Charon and Persephone. Not only that the powers and equipment amplify his power quite a lot lore/powerscaling wise.
My first experience with God of War was watching Jacksepticeye play #4. I wasn't aware of the original games until some point in that game. After watching the first games and listening to some discussions - especially the "God of War is finally mature" stuff - I agree that they don't know what they're talking about and are just riding on a successful brand name with an audience. But I wasn't aware that even the additional first games lacked some understanding before this video. So thanks for informing. I also still only got the impression from CoO that Kratos was suffering from the pain of his past, and since it's constantly brought up that he suffered from nightmares.
In second game Kratos doesn't even have a choice but to kill Zeus. Gaia says that Zeus won't stop until Kratos is dead and once he's dead Hades will torture him for all eternity in the underworld.
@@rustyshackelford4224idk if you're being ironic or not, but after Kratos discovers that Sparta was destroyed, he gives up and Gaia says that to him to get him pumped to battle the kraken
Add onto the events of Ghost of Sparta and that brings out more context on why Kratos became more resentful against the Gods. His own quote to Athena at the end of the game perfectly sets up GOW II.
Id say, the reason hades helped him and gave him the power to summon souls was because he had to, kratos passed the challenge of hades in the temple of pandora and the reward regardless of who it was, was hades arny. He had to give him that power out of duty and obligation. But yes, chains has always bothered me cause its thematically something that should have happened after the first game. I think hades was on ares side basically during the first game. But still had to help kratos.
And besides, With Zeus being King of the Gods on Olympus; his word is final. Which means, it's not far fetched to suspect that even if Hades complained to him about Kratos killing his wife, Zeus could've been like "I don't want to hear it; HELP HIM, or you're FIRED" and could simply threaten to strip away Hades' godhood (which is something he's able to do even in the original Greek Myths). So the way I see it, Hades was biting his tounge begrudgingly.
You hit it on the head, dude. Kratos himself says the exact same thing in the Valhalla DLC: "You are cruel, and arrogant, and selfish. But you are more than that. You have always been more than what others saw."
Chains of Olympus is still one of my favorites because of Kratos' Daughter that part just meeting her again and having leave her forever by choice is Kratos finally letting her go just hits different
Videos like this give such an appreciation for the original saga. I was too young to really understand the story when i first experienced it, but now that I've grown and matured more, it makes me realize how good of a character Kratos is, and why he is my favorite fictional character
What peeves me a little is that in the new games they act like Kratos is different than everyone because he has killed, even though in that time, life wasn’t as sacred as it is now so it wouldn’t make sense to judge kratos based on modern morality.
I believe the reason for the rage in chains is well pretty accurate but with the ability to kill gods part is due to the Gauntlet of Zeus and the light magic, but it's mainly from the Gauntlet. With Ascension he is done well and i believe he is indifferent in the ending cause even when he got his memories back he went to seek redemption. But i can agree that this series has some weird writing differences .
him killing the furries make sense.... they weren't gods.... they were primordials that the gods surpass in power.... kratos' strength is immeasurable and his power got activated during when be became a servant to ares because of the power that gave kratos..... its the same with deimos who was still alive and had his powers connected because of the constant strive hoping for kratos to save him
and In chains of olympus, this youtuber who also doesn't understand kratos completely dismissed the fact that kratos lost and got knocked out by charon who isn't even a god and with persephonne, she isn't even a god in gow but just a powerful mortal being that was aided by hades' power.... this might be headcanon but I don't think shes a god in gow
plus the voice thing that the guy whined about for chains of olympus was a voice acting evolution (kratos still has somber voice moments in chains of olympus) but it still makes sense because kratos wants his visions taken away from him primarily and will still serve the gods which he said at the end of the game.... i cant be bothered explaining theres already ppl debunking his points at the lower comments in this video
I really hate how everyone seems to have retroactively forgotten how Kratos was in the first game to prop up how “deep” the newer games supposedly are, when the old games always were as well. Hell even the Ghost of Sparta game filled in blanks to reinforce how he ended up in the second game. The man screwed up, tried to make up for it many times over, only to still get screwed over.
14:40 I guess the game is set at a time where Kratos seems to be frustrated with Gods already, but by the end of it he accepts his servitude to the Gods as shown by his conversation with Atlas, when Kratos tells Atlas "It's all I have" , where "it" is the promise of the Gods. Maybe he recognises his duty after leaving Calliope. Afterall, young Kratos from GoW:Ghost of Sparta seems to be a very angry kinda guy too, you literally fight him and throw him at a mirror a bunch of times
@@godzillazfriction Soooo, why did Hades help Kratos without even mentioning his wife Kratos killed? He seemed pised about it in GoW 3. Why did Hades _dismiss_ it huh?
I want to personally thank you for making this video, I have been trying to express these points to these newer fans since 2018. But because of the devs of 2918 GoW basically saying that Kratos had no personality and purpose for his anger that is what majority of new fans went with. They unlike myself and other like-minded ppl didnt play these games, they simply looked at out of contex clips and gameplay to support their mis-informed argument. So thank you for this.
I always thought that when he first said "Close your heart" he also meant bypassers. That's one thing I disagree but with. But yeah. I agree that the open your heart scene is even deeper now
I hate that scene though. It was so poorly made. It starts with Atreus saying "winners do anything for victory, close your heart to it" in reference to Odin using the innocent as a sort of human shield in war. And the way he words it, outloud, is so in the nose to make you feel bad for him, justifying Kratos saying something stupid. The 1st time he said it was because they were bloody hunting _for food._ Survival, ffs. This is just the writer not being able to ahndle the concept of stoicism, because is seen as "bad" nowadays.
@@rustyshackelford4224 Look man better to just watch the old game's cutscenes. Because to even explain what the guy means is me talking about what's in the cutscenes.
I mostly agree with you but there's two things I think that kinda are missing some points. It is true Kratos was more motivated to end his nightmares and ptsd in the first game, but it was also his goal to kill Ares because he was tasked to do so. Also in God of War Ascension all the memories come back after killing Orkos because the Furries and Orkos were there to keep Kratos in line basically, Kratos had to kill them if he wanted to remember his sins properly, as Ares was still trying to keep him as his slave. .
He is like an actual greek myth. People believe different things and details about him and view him in a couple of ways and everyone thinks they are very right and the problem is it does seem like it but then I hear other pov and it also sounds solid. I think myself that he is great complex character who is relatable to me in a few ways and makes me feel less alone while making the feeling stronger at the same time. He is one of the characters that makes me wonder if i will ever feel connection to people like i do purely with great fictional characters. He is an inspiration to fight the trauma. Gives hope im not ready for yet. He is human. Maybe we should stop trying to define everything about him or trying to find the true Kratos in all of this and just be glad that he is.
I don't see his lines in Ragnarok being contradictory at all. He may see himself only as vengeful. Specially that since he lived with the gods, he saw that they'd be able to stop Ares if they wanted to, and didn't, that's why his characterization in 2 makes sense, since he basically thinks of everyone as pricks. The huge mistake was in taking the shallow approach for the prequels, as you said. In all honesty, you can see the ashes fading in Ragnarok, so he may think of himself as have always wanting revenge (characters can fail in assessing themselves, which Kratos often does), even if he thought of it as impossible, before the events of 1. I don't know man, the path they took with him throughout the main games felt very natural. I recall playing the second game before the first, and most people feel like the second is a better game (I agree), but the story flowed perfectly. I could see, even as a teenager, the change in him during the two games. He ends up cracking hardcore in three after Gaia says "f u, I'm climbing b*". That's his turning point for me. Killing Poseidon ended up being a more practical than vengeful action. As well as everyone else on Olympus, aside from Hera, most of it is to defend himself so that he can fight Zeus. I mean, the dude doesn't even move a finger against Hephaestus until the shock blades. The issue is that he didn't see the kind of things he was doing to get to that point, and also, it was fighting or being forced into servitude/torture forever, so, yes, you're pretty much correct, his primary motivation has never been revenge, but started as guilt, then moved to resentment, and finally blowed as rage, which is his power, funnily enough. Anyway, good video dude. Made me think.
I think the point about Freya where he stops Atreus from killing her, and keeps helping her, that would be because A: She's trying to kill him more than Atreus, she acts like she'll kill Atreus multiple times but never has the guts to, B: because he feels that indebted to her for saving Atreus in the last game, and doesn't want Atreus to kill someone he thought of as a friend, trying to save Atreus from what would be a traumatic experience, plus it shows to Freya he really doesn't want to kill her. And as for the part where Atreus calls him an asshole, I think that the reason Kratos didn't immediatly smack him was out of the trauma of killing his last kid. This is a weird comparison, but something similar can be seen in Netflix Castlevania (Spoilers if you haven't seen it, skip to the third paragraph if you intend on watching it, or even if you don't, I highly encourage you to skip past this bit because the show is goddamn amazing) In the fight in Dracula's castle in Season 2 Episode 7, you can notice that while Dracula is fighting his son, Alucard, he never ONCE strikes his son with his claws out. Earlier in the pilot episode of the entire show, Dracula maims Alucard with a strike across the chest, causing Alucard to need to rest for an entire year. Dracula was clearly a good dad, especially if you go back to Alucard fighting his father in S2 E7. Dracula was so traumatized about letting himself maim Alucard that badly, that he subconciously cannot let himself hurt him that bad again. He's blinded by rage for most of the fight, but he physically cannot let himself go to that extent. I think something similar happens to Kratos even with all the times he, rightfully, should smack the shit out of Atreus. Because there ARE multiple times in BOTH games that Kratos could've hit Atreus and everyone would be like "yeah, rightfully so." But I do want to point out, because some people are going to yell at me the second they finish reading my previous points (and even this won't stop them), these are *my* interpretations of Kratos in those moments. I don't have as much experience with the series as...probably everyone else playing the games or watching these videos, but I have researched and watched things about the old games to form my understanding of the character. I could be extremely wrong, but this is how I have come to interpret these moments. Because everyone can interpret things differently. For example, whoever reads this comment could interpret me as someone who's just voicing an opinion, no matter if the reader is in agreement or not, and some people can interpret me as a lying devil piece of shit human being who deserves to be burned alive like the heathen I am. We'll see. Anyway thanks for reading my shitty rant lol.
In regards to Kratos not snapping or getting furious with Atreus and Freya. Kratos fears his anger, the same anger that slaughtered innocents, his family, and played a part in Athena's games. Kratos isn't just temperate with Freya and his son, he never lashes out at anything, he's as calm and collected as he was in GOW1 and only uses anger as a weapon, never as a means for communication. Even in the old games his anger was built up, it never spewed forward from a single smart remark, same as how it takes a lot to piss off Kratos to the point of attacking(with Atreus being the ultimate trigger) in the newer instalments. Also, the whole "morally right to kill" thing. I think your underestimating how much Kratos cares for his son, enough to put himself in harm's way to keep him from making a mistake like killing Freya, because Kratos knows it's not what Atreus wants. Kratos responds with what he knows, what he BELIEVES is right, and similar to his "close your heart" rethinking, he chose the opposite response and placed the safety of his son above the morally justified decision. It wasn't about whether he was right or wrong, he didn't care about the logic, he was determined to keep Atreus from doing something he was heavily against. Kratos was also on the defensive in every encounter with Freya(minus when she had a mask) and I doubt he'd want Atreus to switch tactics as well
Yep even in the old games Kratos didn't start off quick to anger. It was only after so much frustration that Kratos become the rage filled monster people portray him as but that was not the normal Kratos. Some pointed that Kratos originally was more on the stoic side to begin with.
I agree with all of your points except the claim that Kratos didn't want revenge on Ares from the start. I feel that he DID want revenge, and that he did want to kill him...but he had no means of doing so. This further reinforced his hopelessness and PTSD as his desire to pay back the god who took everything from him was supposedly forever out of his reach. The best he could have done at the time was break his oath, and even then, that really only made things worse for him. At that point, and until his opportunity to kill Ares, serving the gods really was the only thing he had left.
The funny thing is that in the new games of GOW, they don't understand Kratos, and ALSO think he is a full rage edgy monster seeking for revenge at any cost. I think it's stupid how people think that GOW 3 Kratos behavior is from all games even thought they watching that videos that shows EVERYTHING of Kratos past, an suffering spartan hating himself after killing his family by "manipulation", people don't understand how past Kratos was actually really deap, even more than GOW4 and GOWR, because of these videos that people can give a try to God of War old games and understand Kratos well. Nice video btw
23:30 Kratos fuming is the exact same line presented where he states his boundaries and how he'd NEVER just kill for her and shows the roles at play with Freya's "need" for revenge and shows great patience with her enough to help free her from her confines and the sword the binded her to Asgard. 23:56 Kratos turns his back to protect Freya from Atreus ( guarding his son from doing something he might regret nor really wants ) and shows how much he respects her and cares for what she did for Atreus in game telling her why he never faced her everytime she engaged with them and even left his guard down when he finally realized the Valkyrie he was facing. I think Kratos is a simple man and gives simple answers at the time the question was presented yes is his answer but it's not finite and dives deeper clearly when it comes to Freya
Kratos is actually one helluva guy. If he goes on a date he brings flowers and chocolates. On his mom's birthday he bakes a cake, but if he's busy killing gods he at least sends her a card. What a swell guy! Seriously, I love this vid. Kratos had so much PTSD and was filled with regret, haunted by what might be the most fucked up past that anyone has ever had to endure. Appreciate the video, the genuine tone and clear knowledge of the character really comes through.
I agree about Kratos' character here. Although, he might be fed up with the gods a little at this point, but kinda chilled after realising they are the only ones capable of helping him, but that's a theory. Perhaps, by the events of GoW 1, he is tired. Really, really tired to be angry at the gods. I even believe that working for them, killing off monsters, keeps his nightmares at bay. As for Persephone, he kills her with the gauntlet of Zeus. If that thing is powerful enough to subdue the Titans, it might be strong enough to kill a god. Although, that diminishes the epic scale of the first game because that game makes it clear that no mortal has killed a god prior. Damn, now that is a plothole.
yeah while editing the video I noticed that he used the Gauntlet. I didn't add any comment on that to the video because it still retroactively makes the first game kinda dumb.
These powers/equipment buff/amplify lorewise for kratos in these games. Look at how ascension he killed the furies which are primordials and not only that’s he’s the son of Zeus. If your a powerscaler in GOW you would know this but if your a casual for kratos in GOW you wouldn’t know this.
I completely agree with all of your points. Especially how sometimes characters just completely had their personality changed with time. Some other characters that I could remember that had this issue is Spongebob and Mickey Mouse. Both of them, from having a human-like personality, changed to being a soulless front cover of a franchise, unable to express any kind of emotions, other than being happy & goofy. Almost like a clown(even I think clowns have more emotions). The reason I think this commonly happens is because a character is always tied to it's creator. In a way it's an expression of the creators personality and mind. And what I noticed with all these characters, all of them had this problem due to the change of their writers. Usually the first depiction of them is always the truest of their form, with the most amount of personality as how the creator wanted. But whenever they changed writers, not everything that the original creator envisioned of the character translates to the next writer. A lot of the information were lost, either simplified, or misunderstood. It is classic human error. But it's not always a bad thing to change writers, because every writer has their own set of style and ideas, but since they will always try to stay true the "original" vision of the creator, they had to limit what they can expand and improve upon the character, resulting in simplification of the character's personality due to how the writer understood the character. The more you change writers, the more simplified it gets. As for the God of War reboot, I would imagine Cory Barlog, being part of the GOW development team since the start, would understand more of what Kratos really is. But we can see in both of the new games, that is how he viewed Kratos all this time, how he understands it. I'm not sure who directed GOW 2, but I know it's not David Jaffy. Using his own idea to improve upon what he understood of Kratos, with his understanding. Creates a new story. Same also with GOW 3, which amplifies upon what GOW 2 did. Now Cory Barlog, maybe had his simplified idea of Kratos is always the latest Kratos, which is GOW 3 Kratos, so we definitely see that a lot in GOW 2018. And we can see in all of the interviews that he really settled his mind on Kratos as the GOW 3 Kratos, neglecting all the details of the previous games, all of which were not written by him. I'm 100% sure he really did not understand Kratos as how the previous and original creator did, as that is the reason why he promotes the story the way he did.
You do know that Cory also wrote GoW 2 and Ghost of Sparta right? Also this video points out that the original creator didn't really understand Kratos as well.
Based video. "Kratos didn't have character until God of War 4!" That's just "tell me you didn't pay attention to the original God of War games without telling me you didn't pay attention to the original God of War games." Been playing God of War since I was little kid. Kratos is one of my favorite characters in media... I hate seeing him being "disrespected," for lack of a better term, by people disregarding his development from the OG game. I always love videos like these - makes me happy to know other God of Wars fans understand Kratos.
He kills Persephone because he’s using the gauntlet of Zeus which was used to keep the titans imprisoned in case they tried to escape so if it can kill titans it’ll destroy a god which is why when he kills Persephone in the cutscene they specifically have him use the gauntlet to deliver the killing blow which is also why he lost to charon in the first fight since he didn’t have a god killing weapon and charon was a descendant of a primordial and is older than zeus. As to why he was more disrespectful to the gods he encountered I’d have to agree with you and say that they definitely looked more at gow 2 kratos which was a mistake, but to his defence he was basically doing all of these labours for the gods without any real reward while constantly being haunted by his crimes. He goes from having to fight a war against the persians, to thwarting off morpheus without any break or reward in between and just relying on their promises, so I would say that when he speaks to the deities that way he’s doing it more out of frustration, at the end he clearly was hoping for things to be the way they were instead of having to basically be a pawn of the gods. To top it all off as he’s continuing his journey to stop morpheus the god of nightmares was using his power to remind kratos of his failures which took a heavy toll on kratos’ mental health to the point where he was hallucinating his daughter playing her flute to him. Overall though you make great points about kratos sadly the normies dictate what character progression is
Honestly GOW 3 makes a lot more sense narratively if you consider it him going postal after being a pawn of the gods. I don't think it's a caricature, I think it's a man who said 'fuck it we ball'
Speaking of DB characters being flanderized, Vegeta is the biggest Casuality of it. His default character trait has become grumpy even though, Saiyan Saga Vegeta was very carefree&relaxed around nappa. The reason behind Vegeta's grumpiness in Z was due to him being goku's lesser, after he let go of that jealousy it doesn't make canonical sense for Vegeta to be grumpy anymore but since that's his most iconic self, DBS writers still write him as a perpetually grumpy guy who yells&rages all the time.
Anytime someone says the old games had worse story telling and that kratos was just a rage monster means you can just disregard what they say, they dont know what theyre talking about.
I find the reason that Kratos is attributed as a very angry character is his ruthlessness. Yes, in the first game's cutscenes, he's mostly calm. But he's also extremely ruthless to mostly anyone he encounters. To be fair most are undead creatures trying to kill him. But that also Includes innocent people. Don't forget we gain health points for killing innocents at many parts of the game.
it's not just what we see from GOW 2 what made him bitter It got even WORSE when he found out his entire family got fucked over by the gods in Ghost of Sparta. His mother and brother were both locked away, then not even long after meeting them they died, and he had to kill his mother because Zeus. THEN Athena just come congratulate the man while he's mourning, pick a better time woman. And regarding Chain of Olympus, the explanation for why he serves them despite being so fed up with them is in his interaction with Atlas. He's tired of serving them but they're the only one who can help him, because he got no other options.
Incredible video man. Rare is a content creator who approaches their topic with such clarity and understanding. No superfluous, overly-verbose statements or expositions. No BS revisionism or over-reliance on retrospective perspectives. A very straightforward and well thought video. This is what I noticed in people who understand the content they share with others. Those who understand it to the core, are able to do so in a very simple manner that anyone can follow along and appreciate, even if they don't agree with you. Like you, I felt this confusion and anger towards people who just called Kratos bloodthirsty and mindless ape. Though I can't say I blame them, because even SANTA MONICA did not understand the character they created. I guess this is why, even though GoW 2 and 3 (and 2018) are my favourite from a gameplay perspective, GoW 1 is my favourite overall, because it's story portrayed a broken and sombre character who had so much depth to him that people, INCLUDING THE DEVS chose to ignore GoW 2 onwards. Hell, even that brief snippet of the GoW 1 dev interview had me taken aback. I guess this is why, even though I enjoyed the new games (and the PSP games), I was never truly impressed because Santa Monica didn't understand Kratos and it showed in every game (Valhalla excluded). Subscribed.
@@theIJPmexican It's a step in the right direction but I don't know if they can ever rectify this misconception of Kratos completely. The more I think about it, the more I dislike his characterisation in Chains of Olympus. Hell, the more I dislike his "angry voice" portrayal in general. The fix could have been so simple, let the events of chains of Olympus play out the way they do, but portray Kratos exactly how he is in GoW 1. Then Ghost of Sparta comes around and they could show Kratos becoming frustrated and angrier until it all reaches a climax with Deimos' death and that would transition nicely into GoW 2. The only game where I liked Kratos' "angry" attitude and demeanour was in GoW 3 because of all that has preceded it; Kratos was completely consumed with revenge. It's crazy how his perception could have been so easily changed by some minor efforts on Santa Monica's side while they were making the Greek games. But alas, now it's as you say, we're stuck in a situation where no one understands Kratos. (Great title btw lol).
This video along with “God of war was always deep you cowards” and “The one thing everyone gets wrong about Kratos” are well done and needed. I don’t get how people can say Greek Kratos was bland raging monster. The first time we see Kratos he is literally attempting suicide. I guess that wasn’t mature enough for people. GOW1, Chains of Olympus, Ascension, Ghost of Sparta, and a few scenes in GOW2 shows what Kratos really feels about himself.
That could easily be seen as edgy and they see it all as immature shallow shit because you sex and kill a lot. It's the actual writing quality that carries it, and that did fall off with some retcons but overall it's good
@@thatitalianlameguy2235 Sex part is just up to player, not canon. Man only done wth his past wives. Playing old games and reading the novels will make folks around world understand better.
@@mailboxmaulerranarchagenteven the sex was to show the depression on kratos. ‘’No matter how much wine he consume or how many woman he took to his bed, nothing on earth could’ve rid him of the horrors that plagued his mind.’’ He basically tried everything he could to at least stop his nightmares for an short amount of time.
I think that Ghost of Sparta shows Kratos' change from how he was in 1 to how he is in 2 and 3. Seeing that the other Olympians are no better than Ares sent him over the edge.
I really like this, but I do think you kinda fell behind when looking back at Ragnarok. The "is it moral to kill something that's trying to kill you" and then protecting Freya isn't contradictory. He didn't protect her from Atreus because it would have been immoral, it was because she was a friend who had at least some potential of being one again. They would most certainly regret killing her in the end and that's why they didn't. And then talking about his past, what else was he supposed to say there? "I was tricked into killing my family, I was then sad for a bit and then just so happened to get my revenge after serving more gods for a decade." That's much less concise than "I swore revenge" now isn't it? And then in the end, how he was in GoW3 is all that matters isn't it? The one time you lost your temper matters so much more than the hundreds of times you held it. Rome wasn't built in a day, but it essentially collapsed in one.
@@denkerbosu3551 He literally said he didn't want to live with killing her any more than he wanted to live period. It's not the game's nor Kratos' fault you can't understand that feeling.
Agreed. Kratos never let his guard down. He took advantage of Freya being startled and got out of her grasp. The priority in the moment was calming Atreus. He straight up tells Atreus that she is a friend. Freya has been attacking them for years and Kratos has done all that he could to refrain from killing her. Even being stabbed by her in the beginning his focus never shifted from escaping. If he were to slaughter her in that moment there would have been nothing for Atreus to learn and his reason for avoiding her death for all that time would have been for nothing. It's a complicated relationship. When Kratos killed Baldur Freya didn't draw her weapon forcing us into a boss fight, she cursed Kratos. As a Valkyrie I suppose her character would be in question as well. When Kratos pushed her away to calm Atreus she didn't swoop in for the kill as a Valkyrie normally would have. This entire scene was based off the relationship of all characters present and the severity of the situation. We fought Atreus in rage mode. Kratos knws what the lack of Atreus self control can do. Why would Kratos let him maul Freya when he has been trying to protect him from experiencing the regret that he himself faces for his past actions ? If anything this greatly reflects who Kratos is.
Great take, honestly yeah the main streams know old Kratos as the blood thirsty, rage fueled, god killer but I wish his grieving side was shown more as his old life had taken so much from him (wife, daughter, brother, mother and home) and that his vengeance had never given his closure.
im so glad you made this video. I never really played the first three games bc my parents somehow knew there were sex mini games (still dk how they knew), but when watching walkthroughs I was always confused as to why people say he's always angry when he has shown to feel regret and shame, and it's noticable with the way he speaks, case and point "byt the gods... what have I done." It always tipped me off how game reviewers say the franchise grew from the angry man trope when he was really only that in the third game. I think it's mainly due to the fact that GoW 2018 and ragnorok "feel cinematic" and have slow music and characters moving their eyes slowly is what made people think "Damn this game hella deep." Great video, just subbed
Kratos was always a good character in the old games, that has always been my controversial opinion when talking to friends, thank you for sharing this quality content
I always thought Hades and the other gods let kratos slide with killing Persephone because she was the one who aided in making them all fall into a deep sleep; killing her was a part of saving them so they saw nothing wrong with it. And that's probably why Hades was helping him in GOW1. In GOW3 Hades mentions his anger at Kratos for killing his wife, I think he was holding his anger in towards Kratos all this time for that act even though they had to let it slide because it had to be done to save the gods; and now since Kratos is out to kill all of them he let his true feelings about that situation show.
Thank you for this video. I'm so glad I wasn't the only one annoyed with how kratos acted in chains of Olympus, like why is he talking like god of war 3 kratos and why is he pissed at the gods, it was weird. Whenever someone says kratos is just an angry guy, I immediately point to god of war 1 and ascension as kratos isn't angry throughout the entire game. Also about god of war Ragnarok I agree about how the ares part of kratos story was really simplified, but you could say that kratos did that on purpose just to let freya know that she isn't the only one who has suffered. Also her being dismissive with kratos was the fact that she hasn't fully forgave him, which she was about to apologize for before kratos cut her off. Also to add more depth into the open your heart scene, I personally interpret that scene as kratos not wanting Atreus to go down the same path he went on. Kratos sacrificing his very soul for victory is what caused his suffering, you can say seeing the midgardians get hurt and Atreus trying to close his heart to that made kratos have memories of his old life of him ignoring his wife when she begged him to stop his conquest. Brilliant video.
@@MariusBoss11458 I always felt like kratos both wanted his memories taken away and to kill ares, but killing ares was of less importance compared to just getting rid of his nightmares. But that doesn't mean revenge was never on his mind to some degree, gow1 confirms this with"ares, you will die for what you did that night" I feel like this video makes it seem that kratos can't have two motivations, with one being less important than the other. After rewatching this video it made me reform that thought.
I looks like being a watcher of Sitch & Adam is finally paying off for you. Good insight, good argument, and decenty entertaining at the same time. The jerk Homer and Goku comparsion at the start was a good hook with an awesome follow up. Not perfect but what is besides Brian Boitano (There is my one old school reference)
I gotta say I’ve rewatched some of this video again and I can say that it’s amazing, it’s memorable and is a classic to me. It’s very well done and is one of my favorite explanations of Kratos.
I do feel as though revenge against Ares was always part of his motivation alongside getting rid of his nightmares, even in God of War 1. Not sure if I necessarily agree with Chains of Olympus Kratos being out of character. I think he always felt like a slave to the Gods and just hated his life. And when you think about it they took everything from him. His mother, his brother, his family. The reason he kept doing it I felt was because it's all he had left. Revenge, release, maybe even redemption.
You just agreed with him, his just saying in the first game he didn’t hate them until later on but his just focusing about kratos before he truly took the oath of revenge
@@gutsjoestar7450 in the first game they set up that he hated killing the people for ares but was enjoying the power underneath, which is narrated in the intro, only when his family died his humanity comes back and ares fully loses him, its still half kratos fault, if he wasn’t drunk on rage and power he would of seen his family there
@@gutsjoestar7450 so imagine what godhood does to someone who underneath liked power and lost his brother and mother and was betrayed by the gods, rage and path of revenge which ended up causing him to be blinded even forgetting his family which he doesn’t mention in the third game but panadora reminds him of his daughter and you can start to see his sadness and heart come back, third game we aren’t meant to enjoy or want to do what kratos does, you’re just a audience to his self destruction and his guilt at the end for what he does shows why he was worried about his son in the newer game
Listening to the EFAP on Ragnarok, and hearing mauler break down kratos dealing with the gap where kratos is dwelling on his past makes me want to play these games for the first time. Great video IJP
the public's perception of kratos as a whole can be traced to how it views violence. "oh you're violent? you must be an ANGRY PERSON" "oh you had good reasons to turn to violence? you must be SPITEFUL" kratos also had to be EXTRA violent because he's not fighting mortal men, but massively, stupidly powerful creatures, and eventually gods. he had to get creative just to survive those encounters, as anyone would. this is not a problem of the public's perception being influenced by later installments of the character, everyone doing these reviews played the same game we did. this is a problem with how mature the public is when it comes to violence. we are a very immature society in the modern day, abhoring violence in any form, even though violence historically can have a positive effect in measured amounts and it often necessary to protect and defend those you love. but modern people surrounded by the modern amenities cannot fathom a world in which they would be forced into violence just for a hope of seeing a second sunrise, in their mind, violence is barbaric in any form. if you're violent, you're aggressive, and aggression is bad! it's just the natural march of public perception, and it isnt going to change until something really, really bad happens, unfortunately. the says goes; weak men bring hard times hard times bring strong men strong men being good times good times bring weak men and for all you feminazis in the comments, yes, you, i can hear your 8 inch long painted fingernails and ragged breathing as you furiously type away in response to me, "men" is being used here to describe the RACE of men, MANKIND, HUMANS.
I think it makes a lot of sense that Kratos in ragnarok would refer to himself as sort of a rage monster. Sometimes it’s just simpler to have an overall view of actions rather than having to relieve everything and go into detail. Also, in ragnarok there’s a few times he goes against his own teachings, it’s just adaptability to what is truly important in the moments
It's so good to see there are people out there that actually get it. Kratos was always a deep character, and watching his descent into madness with his guilt and the constant betrayal while losing everyone important to him beginning too end ate away at his sanity.. Kratos deserves better, the new games are great, but the original trilogy and that Kratos deserves way more respect
Thank you so much for this video. As a former fan of God of War since the first game's release date, it always frustrates me how people and Santa Monica misinterpret Kratos and the original trilogy's story as some dumb schlock that was never mature. I loathe the Norse games, they are nothing but vanity projects for Cory Barlog to narcissistically announce how his fatherhood changed him and are God of War in name only. Normies turned this franchise into Last of Us lite and it bores me to tears now, from story to gameplay. What a sad fate for what was once one of gaming's most epic IPs.
Hell, even in GOD OF WAR 3, he tries to spare a lot of people. He didn't want to fight Kronos or Hercules, even asking the latter to back down. He ignores Hera at best, until she makes a comment on Pandora (whom Kratos started to see as a sort of a daughter) calling her a whore. He killed Hephaestus only in retaliation.
Feel like modern critics often misunderstand the lessons and themes of Tragic story telling. Instead everything has to be meta and deconstructionist. God I hated to Norns in Ragnarok. Great video!
Yeah. People think that Old Kratos in the new games is deeper because he's full of regret and depressed. But Kratos was always like that. The only difference is that Old Kratos talks about it a lot. Young Kratos literally tried to kill himself. He wasn't just a rage filled power fantasy. He wears the ashes of his past evil deeds on his skin. Kratos's whole deal in the originals was regret and loss. Hew just didn't monologue about it back then.
Finally a guy that noticed these things that i and my friends noticed (not everything he said but some of them) They kinda confused themselves and their fans lol but they can't confuse the real kratos fan
I think that we get trapped into viewing ourselves through our worse moments. Kratos' worse moments are the events of the third game. He dwells on them, views himself through that lense. I think GOW 2018 and GOW Ragnarok reflect that.
Kratos may have always have had depth, I never thought him mindless. But even after all this, I can't really see his OG trilogy actions as anything other than monstrous even if half of them he really didn't want to do, because Kratos while raised to be a warrior who rarely spared even the innocent, did in the end choose to be one. So I think that's why people have such love for the 4th and 5th sequels Kratos, it's a way to find redemption for what folks with nostalgia for the series may see as their own monster.
As a true og of the series this video is greatly appreciated. Kratos is such a great character. The first game is a master peice. The second game was maybe the best of all time.(yes seriously fight me.) The third has the best gameplay IMO and full power pure rage mode godslaying kratos was just awesome to behold. It was a steady progression. I like chains of Olympus it's a good game. Still replay it once in awhile. But yeah it's just frustrating that the plot doesn't really work. Kratos hits f#*k it in gow 2 but before that he was actually ice cold. Not mad. Anger implies victim mentality, if you're angry it's (usually) because of an injustice. You care about something. In gow1 kratos is made off stone because he blames himself for what happened to his family no one else. When the gods tell him to kill ares, he's like "Kill a god?...kill a god... Kill a god! Yes I do believe he's earned it." He's not really "mad" at him. It's like you said the thought never occurred to him before. The gods give him a chance for revenge so he gladly accepts. He only really gets mad when Zeus murders him. Who wouldn't be mad? Lol Gow3 had the dumbest excuse for depowering kratos though. The titans put all that work into kratos in gow2 then they're like "Nah whatever we don't need you." What? Yes you do though! What? Zeus kick all your asses before...WTF? Would have been cool if he just got more and more powerful somehow or something. Just not that. Lol
I would love to see Tactical Bacon's reaction tot his one. I like that you both touch the same point. Would be even better if you both talked about it on a stream or such. I'd watch that in a heartbeat.
this video is much needed , the studio itself has forget what a great and tragic character they have created with full Of emotions and pain , they have done such a dirty character assassination Of kratos in ragnarok , portraying him as if he was just a killing machine with no emotions and motivation , and that now he is regreting about his past , it is such a bullshit, everyone was so mean to kratos in greek pantheon and the gods just wanted to torture him they wont even let him die peacefully in first game , all kratos ever wanted in his life was peace which will come death , and this mf made him the allfather in ragnarok as if he aspired to be worshiped and bullshit
The fact that you think Kratos regretting his revenge (said revenge being responsible for THE DESTRUCTION OF GREECE) is "character assassination" says more about you than it does the Norse games.
Kratos never considered Freya an enemy, to be fair. I feel like he saw her as more of an obstacle to avoid. Dude literally offered his life to her if she felt like taking it.
One big critcism I've had to the IP it's consistency. Take for example in GOW Ragnarok. It feels like the plot skipped a beat in the narrative with Surtr. When Surtr says “Put those in here. And I’ll become your monster.” It feels Kratos should immediately deny this because he himself was a person made into weapon in service to a god. It feels a bit of character assassination of Kratos to be on board with taking a loved one away from another person and turn them into a weapon in the service of a god. It's clear Kratos changes when he tells Atreus to open his heart, that’s the moment where Kratos realizes empathy is important that being god who loves and cares has a profound change then being an cruel deity. However, throughout the game conversations have flavor dialog with Kratos, Mimir and Freya talking about enslavement, being used, and how it affected them. It is gross that Kratos is comfortable with turning someone (Surtr) into a monster to serve a god. Not only is it reflective how Kratos is enlisted by Ares to use Kratos as his weapon, just as Kratos enlisted Surtr as his weapon. But the use of terminology “I’ll be your monster” is reflective of GOW (2018) when Kratos says to Athena;s Memory “I am your monster no longer.” It's bizarre the writers would draw on parallels like this so nearly one to one (unless they earnestly rushed and didn’t see them) since they are clear parallels with use of terms and it for me it’s a disservice Kratos as he’s grown.
I'm 100% agree with all of your point, especial how doesn't make sanse the plot in gow chain of olympus, and people who judging og kratos has a angry one dimensional character without playing all the og game, only playing 3
Him being Motivated by Revenge against the Gods is Because of Their Promise being Unfulfilled and Due to the Events of Gow Ghost of Sparta where Zeus Cursed His Mother and His Brother was Kidnapped By The Gods( This is Before Kratos Became a Spartan General which is his Earliest Appearance in Gow Games) and Thanatos Killed His Brother in Gow Ghost of Sparta( Both Gow GoS and Gow Betrayal are Important Prequels to Gow 2) .
I've always been on the fence when it came to problems that stemmed from the director's choices, like that moment in the clip where Kratos talked about killing his family and swearing revenge (22:36). I do think that they dropped the ball on that particular part, but I can also see some narrative justification for that line despite what you're saying. It isn't uncommon for someone to remember events differently after a long period of time and Kratos forgetting it wasn't all about revenge at first would make sense since the thing he's sick and tired of is revenge. That being said I do believe this was an issue with the teams understanding of Kratos and a mistake with the writing. However with that being said I do want to quote something Michael Kirkbride (One of the former developers for The Elder Scrolls series) once said, but I can't remember what he said word for word so I'm going to give it my best shot. The best thing about a fictional story is that you don't have to agree with what you are being told about the story or its world, even by it's creators, you are free to interpret what you see however you want to and if you want to share those thoughts you are free to do that however you want.
I know there are some comic books that show a Kratos with his family. Like he try to find a cure for Caliopy. I think your video is very well done. Thank you for your insite.
I agree but I disagree with the points you make about the new god of war with freya. In Ragnarok Kratos, makes it very clear that has dose not want to harm Freya as he see her as the one who saved his son. Also it is very clear that when BOY turns into a bear calming him down is Kratos top priority sense last time he turned into a bear he lost control. Other wise I enjoyed learning more about a character I got to learn about in the two most recent titles.
Bro dedicated a whole video to the guy from Fortnite💀💀💀
Ikr, he deserves his own video game franchise.
@@My6119 yeah and I have some ideas like the guy gets his family killed by his own hands and then seeks revenge
@@vivekranavaya4043 oh yeah, maybe after doing revenge and killing the family of the one who revenged to, starts a new life and has a new child
@@Loayecr and then the child leaves for a girl
His dad is also an asshole so he just decides to kill him and the rest of his blood relatives.
Kratos was more motivated by Guilt and Self-hate than pure rage in the original trilogy.
He was so mad at himself he raged out at literally everything around him and destroyed Greece
didnt kratos just seek zeus' death? he just destroyed greece unintentionally because the other gods got in his way of killing zeus
@@blackkun0524 Didn't he literally poke out Poseidon's eyes and snap his neck, causing 97% of greece's population to die from floods? Doesn't sound unintentional to me.
@@bopsgaming3810 so if ur "friend" gets in the way of killing your rival and wont let you get to your rival, what are you gonna do? exactly, kill him
@@blackkun0524 If you're talking about Athena, that was accidental, if you are talking about Hephaestus, he wasn't a friend to kratos, more of a means to an end, you can even tell in krato's voice and the way he talks and acts that he doesn't really consider anyone a friend anymore. He thinks of people more as tools by GOW 3. Of course, the only exception being Pandora, but only because she reminded him of his own daughter and how he ended her life, and he didn't want the same thing happening to Pandora.
@@bopsgaming3810 yes
Ya know, a lot of people would say that everyone just needs to play the old games again, but there's one other thing they need to do, amd that's not shut their brains off during the cutscenes. The whole reason everyone remembers the first game as "no talk, me angy" is because they shut their brains off during the cutscenes. They rarely ever react to him jumping off the cliff because they shut their brains off.
Finally you're the only one in this comment section that point this out
Isn’t the depiction of deep Kratos done as a secondary trait of the games then? I played the three games and I love ‘em. Do not think it’s all just angry Kratos, the story and character complexity is a lot weaker compared to the reboot though.
@@ondrejczechaczek6822 did you realize that the people who played the god of war og trilogy back then weren't all teenagers/adults?
@@bingungnamanyaapa2662 Well I was like 13… does it count?
@@ondrejczechaczek6822 You are a rare breed
this and "kratos was always deep you cowards" are great character analysis
It’s so sad that Kratos the popular character of all times is the most misunderstood character, Fans and Fanboys don’t understand that Kratos was calm and reasonable ever since Gow1
@@Omega-jg4oqthe same could be said of Vegeta and Goku from Dragonball tbh
@@JAMES_IS_COOL1227 but I would say Goku is more misunderstood than Vegeta, so many times I’ve heard Goku is a bad father even tho he sacrificed himself to save his family and friends and the planet, you can’t expect him to be your typical human father.. it’s like they want Goku to be Gohan and Gohan to be Goku
@@Omega-jg4oq yea I agree Goku is heavily misunderstood and it's kind of a tragedy super similar to Kratos fan perception
@@JAMES_IS_COOL1227 because the “Goku always wants to train and fight and he doesn’t care about anything else his family nothing and he is selfish very dumb one dimensional Saiyan fighter and forever to be a bad father and a bad Hero”
and “Kratos always wants to get his Revenge against the gods and he is angry mindless brutal who kills anyone he came across and screams all the time and he is bad character”
Are they really fans of these characters? cause it’s sounds like they are haters who knows little to nothing about them and don’t even try to understand them and see from their point of view
Great video. People seriously don't understand that Kratos is suppose to be a classic Greek tragedy character and your video explains it perfectly. Hopefully, people actually play the games, understand the character, and stop spreading the "kratos is angry 24/7" meme.
The thing with Greek mythology is that they were LITERALLY fan fics ,I know hid upbringing, but his writing was total shit.
@@grandcanyon-fu9zt His writing was fine. You don't exactly jump into a hack n slash expecting grounbreaking storytelling, just enough to know what was going on.
@@pillarmenn1936 I know ,I loved x men Origins game and the ghost rider game on ps2 ,but kratos is so unlikable.
@@grandcanyon-fu9zt Those two are well established characters before the game. Better comparison is between Kratos and Dante from Dante's Inferno.
@@pillarmenn1936 Dante is still more likable than kratos
Thank you; it's so satisfying to hear someone else agree that not even _Santa Monica Studios_ understands the character _they created._ They only see Kratos as a _monster,_ despite the fact that they should know _better._
nope this video got it entirely wrong somewhat
What do you think me and Mr Bacon would disagree on?
You do remember all the innocent people he killed right? Through gameplay and cut scenes he didn't give a shit at all. The person you guys are describing doesn't exist. Just newscasts Hitler like to paint, doesn't make him an artist instead. He's still mostly and always, a monster
@@johndodo2062 you do realize that all those innocent people he killed was during his servitude to Ares, and during Pandora's Temple, he expresses regret over what he has done and what he has become.
Pay attention to the video next time, Junior.
@@theIJPmexican almost everything
Thank you and this needs to be clear. It STILL haunts me how cory himself painted kratos as a raging demon who only kills with no remorse.
While it was the case in god of war 3, we can't forget about what gow1 showed. Hell, what about chains of olympus and ghost of sparta? What about his sobbing to seeing his wife in that one kraken cutscene? pisses me off the amount of "god of war matured" shid i see everyday. Tarded people all around stg.
He's kind of right though if you think about how he's portrayed in the games. In God of War 1 they love to show him hacking away at innocent people in cutscenes. Even though it's in the past it lets you know you're playing an anti hero.Then in gameplay the boat captain, "Thanks for coming back" Then he stares him in the face with anger, "I didn't come back for you" let's him drop. Then again in Hades he stabs him in the back and then after he's up he turns around and kicks him off the ledge. How about the soldier begging for his life and Kratos burns him up? All the innocent people running around they want you to kill to get health orbs. Throughout all the games there are innocent people in his way and he loves to kill them to get them out of his way.They want you to see him as a raging demon.
So true Zesty love your gow content btw I can never make it into those streams though but I literary watch your gow 3 randomizer when I'm eating sometimes keep grinding those uploads man. Kratos has always been a great character and not someone who was always out to kill every mf he saw like in gow 3. although he wasn't out to kill some people like Hephaestus but he did cause he tried to kill kratos first but anyways he hasn't always been like how he was shown in gow 3.
Zesty !!
i love how the youtuber completely dismissed that kratos would kill all of olympus if they deny his vengeance
plus the voice thing was a evolution of voice acting in gow 1 to 2 and chains of olympus and the way I saw it was that kratos has finally achieved for what he has been fighting for 10 years which is killing ares but primarily getting rid of the visions that haunt him and so his way of speaking to almost everyone is somber but there are still moments in chains of olympus that kratos uses a somber voice and in the end, kratos tells atlas what he has to sau which this youtuber completely missed for no reason
"Two, he responded to every challenge or every insult with extreme violence"
Fucking Hercules: stands in front of kratos and wants to challenge him
Kratos: this isnt between us hercules
I really hate that the creators don't stand by OG Kratos, even when journalists who never played the original games take a crap on him. The series shouldn't disrespect its roots, nor should the creators.
Well, Santa Monica admitted that the GOW Reboot repurposed him by and and for people who have contempt for the original character. It's confirmed with Cory Balrog in that one Eurogamer article promoting the reboots.
Good points made here, Kratos was pretty calm and reasonable in the first game. In defense of GoW5 though Freya was grieving and rightly upset about the death of her son, Kratos understood this and saw past her rage and mistreatment of him, especially since he was the source of that grief. He also responded politely and intelligently, though his tone bore his frustration.
I don't know about you, but I didn't see a pushover there.
I don't wanna sound like a misogynist here but maybe the fact that everyone saw kratos as a pushover in those scenes is because how unbelievably annoying freya's voice is, I swear every time I hear her shouting I need to close myself in the bathroom because of the intense feeling that I'm gonna throw up.
Nah, they just made him into a beta
I entirely agree with you about how Kratos changed over the course of the main games despite the awkward anger from Chains of Olympus and Ascension. However I feel like the character development he gets in the new games is important too. Kratos isn't sad that he used to be a rage monster. He's sad because he accidentally destroyed his homeland and is still haunted by the memories of killing his wife and daughter despite all the years that have passed. He isn't a pushover in Ragnarok, he's just scared of once again destroying an entire realm. What's the point of raising a son to be better than you if you can literally end the entire world?
I grew up with this series since I was a child so it feels so refreshing to see this video and people who truly understand Kratos to his core
Kratos killed Persephone because Helios and Zeus empowered him. Helios blasts Kratos with some of his abilities while Zeus drops his gauntlet filled with his power, sort of like how the Blade of Olympus could channel Kratos' energy and drain it. Kratos also mentions multiple times in Chains of Olympus that he is frustrated with the gods but still loyal to them. The difference between GOW1 and Chains of Olympus is the difference between an angry kid who sees no hope vs that same kid being offered ONE final chance to get what he wanted. It's not inconsistent - it's emotional ups and downs. The actual plot of Chains of Olympus is literally Kratos just fighting Persians and then three godly entities randomly decide to attempt to destroy all of reality - it makes sense Kratos would be fed up with their shit when he (a mortal) is loyal to Olympus but they (Persephone, Atlas, Charon) can't handle their emotions and threaten to kill everyone. You even have the scene where Kratos reunites with Calliope, where he gives up everything to be with her and only returns to save the world because of his LOYALTY to the gods. He had EVERYTHING he ever wanted and could have forsaken the world, but he did so because he had the oath to keep. Honestly, it's not fair to analyze a game you admit you've never played. Pretty much all these criticisms would be cleared up if you actually took the time to play it.
That being said, I agree with pretty much everything else in the video except for some of the Ragnarok stuff. It doesn't really make much sense to say that it's bad Kratos is judged by his GOW3 interpretation in all games...and then proceed to judge Kratos by his older incarnations for his actions in another game. It shows the growth that he doesn't care about Atreus talking down to him. The whole point about him working with Freya is that he has the chance to help someone who underwent his entire Greek saga arc in just a few years. If he abandoned Freya, he'd essentially be abandoning his past self. Not to mention, that nice moment at the end where Kratos decides to do things Atreus' way does not also include the Midgardians - it also includes Sif, Thrud, and Thor. Kratos SPARED Thor at the end of the game because of what Atreus says, which does not contradict his earlier claim that killing in self-defense is moral - it refines it. The whole point is that Kratos is becoming more like a god of peace and fulfills Tyr's role in the pantheon, which the ending of Ragnarok outlines perfectly.
I wholeheartedly agree Jerkass Kratos is a real thing and Santa Monica Studios succeeds in writing a good character by complete accident, but Kratos was probably the one thing in Ragnarok that was basically 100% well done. There were some moments where that Spartan rage should have shown up more often, but other than that he was a great depiction of his development.
He didn't abandono Caliope because of some imaginary oath to the gods, it was because if Atlas and Persephone succeeded in destroying the world, Caliope would have no afterlife...
No he was a simp in Trashnarok
@@gonhunter3994 Wow, what a sick burn. Trashnarok. I tell ya, if that game was an elementary school kid, you'd have ruined it's day with that one.
@@gonhunter3994 what you probably imagine after saying this
Ragnarok: i don't feel so good *disappear from all available store and deletes itself*
@@atlasgraham154 Not my fault the "game" is trash. Tell me how is that shit deserving of more than 5/10, when the gameplay should've been way better, we could've had dual wielding, have the capacity to switch characters during battle (like any proper rpg), jump + air combos, future Atreus & another weapon. Why is the plot full of inconcistencies, like why neither Atreus nor Kratos understand that Durlinn is a traitor & the weird behavior of Tyr is because he is Odin disguised? Or are they just braindead in this entry? & yes, it IS a plot hole or an inconsistency, 'cause they are SUPPOSED to be extremely smart, Kratos back in Greece solved giant puzzles crafted by Daedalus, the creator of the labyrinth & Atreus is his son... why couldn't they see right through fake Týr? Why is Odin sooooo dumb? I mean, you don't go to some1 who is searching for a supposed dead man & show/express you're bothered or annoyed by it. It basically confirms the dude is ALIVE! Ok it was so that he could trick them & gather info by posing as him, but he NEVER used anything he learned among his enemies to have a leg up, so he's a moron regardless
I have a few points in defense of Chains of Olympus. To me, it makes sense that Kratos is more frustrated at the gods in CoO because in God of War 1 he is led to believe that killing Ares would be his final task before he is freed from his memories. If I’m being told that I’m one step away from my goal, I think I’d be calmer than if I was being told to do things without having any idea of when I’d be done. The uncertainty would definitely leave me restless, so Kratos feeling the same way isn’t inconsistent at all really.
Also, him being distrustful of the gods despite doing everything they tell him has a simple explanation: The gods are the only people who can help him. You said this yourself in the video, and Kratos also says this in Chains of Olympus when talking to Atlas. As far as I’m concerned the consistency is there.
I do agree with your points about Kratos being able to kill Persephone and Charon without Pandora’s box, but personally I’m willing to over look it because in the god of war universe they seem to be more minor gods. In all of the games they change a lot of the actual mythology, so it’s not a super big leap to say that Charon plays a similar role to someone like Theseus. Same with Persephone, who I’d say is treated differently than someone like her husband Hades.
In general though, I agree that Kratos is a heavily misunderstood character. I appreciate the attempt to spread awareness about that!
Kratos killed the furies which are primordials so it’s not too far fetched him killing Charon and Persephone. Not only that the powers and equipment amplify his power quite a lot lore/powerscaling wise.
Nah it doesn't make sense
Kratos is a son of Zeus, making him a demigod, so shouldn’t that make him able to kill minor deities?
The thing is: Persephone is a goddess. And this is stated in a cutscene.
@@thelionofjudah5318 I'm not even sure if primordials are a thing in God of War universe, they treat Gaia as a Titan even though she is primordial.
Kratos was ALWAYS a calm and reasonable person.
Are you sure about that?
No. No, he wasn’t. That’s part of the fun.
Pre-God of War 2, yes.
God of War 2/3, no.
2018/Ragnarök, yes.
@@PossiblyAHooman I guess he wasn’t reasonable around that time but he was calm until someone triggered him.
My first experience with God of War was watching Jacksepticeye play #4. I wasn't aware of the original games until some point in that game.
After watching the first games and listening to some discussions - especially the "God of War is finally mature" stuff - I agree that they don't know what they're talking about and are just riding on a successful brand name with an audience.
But I wasn't aware that even the additional first games lacked some understanding before this video. So thanks for informing.
I also still only got the impression from CoO that Kratos was suffering from the pain of his past, and since it's constantly brought up that he suffered from nightmares.
In second game Kratos doesn't even have a choice but to kill Zeus. Gaia says that Zeus won't stop until Kratos is dead and once he's dead Hades will torture him for all eternity in the underworld.
Oh wow! Where did you get this information from?
@@rustyshackelford4224idk if you're being ironic or not, but after Kratos discovers that Sparta was destroyed, he gives up and Gaia says that to him to get him pumped to battle the kraken
@@rustyshackelford4224 Zeus: "I will free you from your life my son but your torment is just beginning"
I literally beat GOW1 for the first time yesterday (after replaying 2 and 3) and all of this summed up my thoughts to a tee. My boy got flanderised.
Damn.. your first time? I first played it like it's was 13 years ago
Yeah I played through the first 3 and ascension for the first time a few months ago
Add onto the events of Ghost of Sparta and that brings out more context on why Kratos became more resentful against the Gods. His own quote to Athena at the end of the game perfectly sets up GOW II.
Explain please
Id say, the reason hades helped him and gave him the power to summon souls was because he had to, kratos passed the challenge of hades in the temple of pandora and the reward regardless of who it was, was hades arny. He had to give him that power out of duty and obligation. But yes, chains has always bothered me cause its thematically something that should have happened after the first game. I think hades was on ares side basically during the first game. But still had to help kratos.
And besides, With Zeus being King of the Gods on Olympus; his word is final. Which means, it's not far fetched to suspect that even if Hades complained to him about Kratos killing his wife, Zeus could've been like "I don't want to hear it; HELP HIM, or you're FIRED" and could simply threaten to strip away Hades' godhood (which is something he's able to do even in the original Greek Myths). So the way I see it, Hades was biting his tounge begrudgingly.
You hit it on the head, dude. Kratos himself says the exact same thing in the Valhalla DLC:
"You are cruel, and arrogant, and selfish. But you are more than that. You have always been more than what others saw."
Chains of Olympus is still one of my favorites because of Kratos' Daughter that part just meeting her again and having leave her forever by choice is Kratos finally letting her go just hits different
Videos like this give such an appreciation for the original saga. I was too young to really understand the story when i first experienced it, but now that I've grown and matured more, it makes me realize how good of a character Kratos is, and why he is my favorite fictional character
What peeves me a little is that in the new games they act like Kratos is different than everyone because he has killed, even though in that time, life wasn’t as sacred as it is now so it wouldn’t make sense to judge kratos based on modern morality.
I believe the reason for the rage in chains is well pretty accurate but with the ability to kill gods part is due to the Gauntlet of Zeus and the light magic, but it's mainly from the Gauntlet. With Ascension he is done well and i believe he is indifferent in the ending cause even when he got his memories back he went to seek redemption. But i can agree that this series has some weird writing differences .
him killing the furries make sense.... they weren't gods.... they were primordials that the gods surpass in power.... kratos' strength is immeasurable and his power got activated during when be became a servant to ares because of the power that gave kratos..... its the same with deimos who was still alive and had his powers connected because of the constant strive hoping for kratos to save him
and In chains of olympus, this youtuber who also doesn't understand kratos completely dismissed the fact that kratos lost and got knocked out by charon who isn't even a god and with persephonne, she isn't even a god in gow but just a powerful mortal being that was aided by hades' power.... this might be headcanon but I don't think shes a god in gow
plus the voice thing that the guy whined about for chains of olympus was a voice acting evolution (kratos still has somber voice moments in chains of olympus) but it still makes sense because kratos wants his visions taken away from him primarily and will still serve the gods which he said at the end of the game.... i cant be bothered explaining theres already ppl debunking his points at the lower comments in this video
@@godzillazfriction Persephone was the daughter of Demeter who was part of the 12 olympian gods
I really hate how everyone seems to have retroactively forgotten how Kratos was in the first game to prop up how “deep” the newer games supposedly are, when the old games always were as well. Hell even the Ghost of Sparta game filled in blanks to reinforce how he ended up in the second game. The man screwed up, tried to make up for it many times over, only to still get screwed over.
14:40
I guess the game is set at a time where Kratos seems to be frustrated with Gods already, but by the end of it he accepts his servitude to the Gods as shown by his conversation with Atlas, when Kratos tells Atlas "It's all I have" , where "it" is the promise of the Gods. Maybe he recognises his duty after leaving Calliope. Afterall, young Kratos from GoW:Ghost of Sparta seems to be a very angry kinda guy too, you literally fight him and throw him at a mirror a bunch of times
yep this guy completely dismissed this
So that "Is all I have" made him act humble towards the gods and completely calm with the ferry?
@@godzillazfriction Soooo, why did Hades help Kratos without even mentioning his wife Kratos killed?
He seemed pised about it in GoW 3.
Why did Hades _dismiss_ it huh?
@@denkerbosu3551 it's a weird plot device because hades mentions it in gow3 but not 1
@@denkerbosu3551 your mom.... now gtfo
I want to personally thank you for making this video, I have been trying to express these points to these newer fans since 2018. But because of the devs of 2918 GoW basically saying that Kratos had no personality and purpose for his anger that is what majority of new fans went with. They unlike myself and other like-minded ppl didnt play these games, they simply looked at out of contex clips and gameplay to support their mis-informed argument. So thank you for this.
This man knows what he's talking about. Brilliant video. Definitely changed how I'm seeing the 'Open your heart to it' scene from now on
I always thought that when he first said "Close your heart" he also meant bypassers. That's one thing I disagree but with. But yeah. I agree that the open your heart scene is even deeper now
I hate that scene though. It was so poorly made.
It starts with Atreus saying "winners do anything for victory, close your heart to it" in reference to Odin using the innocent as a sort of human shield in war.
And the way he words it, outloud, is so in the nose to make you feel bad for him, justifying Kratos saying something stupid.
The 1st time he said it was because they were bloody hunting _for food._
Survival, ffs.
This is just the writer not being able to ahndle the concept of stoicism, because is seen as "bad" nowadays.
@@denkerbosu3551 actually makes sense
@@denkerbosu3551true
4:29 THANK YOU, I knew I wasn't the only one who noticed his calm demeanor in Gow1
That Homer bait-and-switch earned you a subscription.
hahaha glad you liked it
The first God of War game his motivation was to be mind wiped, revenge was just a bonus.
Explain please
@@rustyshackelford4224 Look man better to just watch the old game's cutscenes. Because to even explain what the guy means is me talking about what's in the cutscenes.
I mostly agree with you but there's two things I think that kinda are missing some points. It is true Kratos was more motivated to end his nightmares and ptsd in the first game, but it was also his goal to kill Ares because he was tasked to do so. Also in God of War Ascension all the memories come back after killing Orkos because the Furries and Orkos were there to keep Kratos in line basically, Kratos had to kill them if he wanted to remember his sins properly, as Ares was still trying to keep him as his slave. .
now i’d love to see kratos kill some furries
He is like an actual greek myth. People believe different things and details about him and view him in a couple of ways and everyone thinks they are very right and the problem is it does seem like it but then I hear other pov and it also sounds solid. I think myself that he is great complex character who is relatable to me in a few ways and makes me feel less alone while making the feeling stronger at the same time. He is one of the characters that makes me wonder if i will ever feel connection to people like i do purely with great fictional characters. He is an inspiration to fight the trauma. Gives hope im not ready for yet. He is human. Maybe we should stop trying to define everything about him or trying to find the true Kratos in all of this and just be glad that he is.
I don't see his lines in Ragnarok being contradictory at all. He may see himself only as vengeful. Specially that since he lived with the gods, he saw that they'd be able to stop Ares if they wanted to, and didn't, that's why his characterization in 2 makes sense, since he basically thinks of everyone as pricks. The huge mistake was in taking the shallow approach for the prequels, as you said. In all honesty, you can see the ashes fading in Ragnarok, so he may think of himself as have always wanting revenge (characters can fail in assessing themselves, which Kratos often does), even if he thought of it as impossible, before the events of 1. I don't know man, the path they took with him throughout the main games felt very natural. I recall playing the second game before the first, and most people feel like the second is a better game (I agree), but the story flowed perfectly. I could see, even as a teenager, the change in him during the two games. He ends up cracking hardcore in three after Gaia says "f u, I'm climbing b*". That's his turning point for me. Killing Poseidon ended up being a more practical than vengeful action. As well as everyone else on Olympus, aside from Hera, most of it is to defend himself so that he can fight Zeus. I mean, the dude doesn't even move a finger against Hephaestus until the shock blades. The issue is that he didn't see the kind of things he was doing to get to that point, and also, it was fighting or being forced into servitude/torture forever, so, yes, you're pretty much correct, his primary motivation has never been revenge, but started as guilt, then moved to resentment, and finally blowed as rage, which is his power, funnily enough. Anyway, good video dude. Made me think.
I think the point about Freya where he stops Atreus from killing her, and keeps helping her, that would be because A: She's trying to kill him more than Atreus, she acts like she'll kill Atreus multiple times but never has the guts to, B: because he feels that indebted to her for saving Atreus in the last game, and doesn't want Atreus to kill someone he thought of as a friend, trying to save Atreus from what would be a traumatic experience, plus it shows to Freya he really doesn't want to kill her. And as for the part where Atreus calls him an asshole, I think that the reason Kratos didn't immediatly smack him was out of the trauma of killing his last kid.
This is a weird comparison, but something similar can be seen in Netflix Castlevania (Spoilers if you haven't seen it, skip to the third paragraph if you intend on watching it, or even if you don't, I highly encourage you to skip past this bit because the show is goddamn amazing)
In the fight in Dracula's castle in Season 2 Episode 7, you can notice that while Dracula is fighting his son, Alucard, he never ONCE strikes his son with his claws out. Earlier in the pilot episode of the entire show, Dracula maims Alucard with a strike across the chest, causing Alucard to need to rest for an entire year. Dracula was clearly a good dad, especially if you go back to Alucard fighting his father in S2 E7. Dracula was so traumatized about letting himself maim Alucard that badly, that he subconciously cannot let himself hurt him that bad again. He's blinded by rage for most of the fight, but he physically cannot let himself go to that extent.
I think something similar happens to Kratos even with all the times he, rightfully, should smack the shit out of Atreus. Because there ARE multiple times in BOTH games that Kratos could've hit Atreus and everyone would be like "yeah, rightfully so."
But I do want to point out, because some people are going to yell at me the second they finish reading my previous points (and even this won't stop them), these are *my* interpretations of Kratos in those moments. I don't have as much experience with the series as...probably everyone else playing the games or watching these videos, but I have researched and watched things about the old games to form my understanding of the character. I could be extremely wrong, but this is how I have come to interpret these moments. Because everyone can interpret things differently. For example, whoever reads this comment could interpret me as someone who's just voicing an opinion, no matter if the reader is in agreement or not, and some people can interpret me as a lying devil piece of shit human being who deserves to be burned alive like the heathen I am. We'll see.
Anyway thanks for reading my shitty rant lol.
Ahhh! So Kratos was a Calm and Reasonable all along!
hahaha
"You have always been more than what others saw"
Valhalla is a masterpiece
In regards to Kratos not snapping or getting furious with Atreus and Freya.
Kratos fears his anger, the same anger that slaughtered innocents, his family, and played a part in Athena's games. Kratos isn't just temperate with Freya and his son, he never lashes out at anything, he's as calm and collected as he was in GOW1 and only uses anger as a weapon, never as a means for communication. Even in the old games his anger was built up, it never spewed forward from a single smart remark, same as how it takes a lot to piss off Kratos to the point of attacking(with Atreus being the ultimate trigger) in the newer instalments.
Also, the whole "morally right to kill" thing. I think your underestimating how much Kratos cares for his son, enough to put himself in harm's way to keep him from making a mistake like killing Freya, because Kratos knows it's not what Atreus wants. Kratos responds with what he knows, what he BELIEVES is right, and similar to his "close your heart" rethinking, he chose the opposite response and placed the safety of his son above the morally justified decision. It wasn't about whether he was right or wrong, he didn't care about the logic, he was determined to keep Atreus from doing something he was heavily against. Kratos was also on the defensive in every encounter with Freya(minus when she had a mask) and I doubt he'd want Atreus to switch tactics as well
Yep even in the old games Kratos didn't start off quick to anger. It was only after so much frustration that Kratos become the rage filled monster people portray him as but that was not the normal Kratos. Some pointed that Kratos originally was more on the stoic side to begin with.
I agree with all of your points except the claim that Kratos didn't want revenge on Ares from the start.
I feel that he DID want revenge, and that he did want to kill him...but he had no means of doing so. This further reinforced his hopelessness and PTSD as his desire to pay back the god who took everything from him was supposedly forever out of his reach. The best he could have done at the time was break his oath, and even then, that really only made things worse for him. At that point, and until his opportunity to kill Ares, serving the gods really was the only thing he had left.
The funny thing is that in the new games of GOW, they don't understand Kratos, and ALSO think he is a full rage edgy monster seeking for revenge at any cost.
I think it's stupid how people think that GOW 3 Kratos behavior is from all games even thought they watching that videos that shows EVERYTHING of Kratos past, an suffering spartan hating himself after killing his family by "manipulation", people don't understand how past Kratos was actually really deap, even more than GOW4 and GOWR, because of these videos that people can give a try to God of War old games and understand Kratos well.
Nice video btw
to be fair, GOW3 is the most easily accessible of the old games, so that might have played a factor in it.
@@tylerleach8796 Yeah that's a good point , btw i said Kratos is a "deap" character 🤦
23:30 Kratos fuming is the exact same line presented where he states his boundaries and how he'd NEVER just kill for her and shows the roles at play with Freya's "need" for revenge and shows great patience with her enough to help free her from her confines and the sword the binded her to Asgard.
23:56 Kratos turns his back to protect Freya from Atreus ( guarding his son from doing something he might regret nor really wants ) and shows how much he respects her and cares for what she did for Atreus in game telling her why he never faced her everytime she engaged with them and even left his guard down when he finally realized the Valkyrie he was facing.
I think Kratos is a simple man and gives simple answers at the time the question was presented yes is his answer but it's not finite and dives deeper clearly when it comes to Freya
Kratos is actually one helluva guy. If he goes on a date he brings flowers and chocolates. On his mom's birthday he bakes a cake, but if he's busy killing gods he at least sends her a card. What a swell guy!
Seriously, I love this vid. Kratos had so much PTSD and was filled with regret, haunted by what might be the most fucked up past that anyone has ever had to endure. Appreciate the video, the genuine tone and clear knowledge of the character really comes through.
Bro im watching this video for the forst time and he sais when ur thinking of kratos…my ass and the fucking video both said „BOY“ 😭
I agree about Kratos' character here. Although, he might be fed up with the gods a little at this point, but kinda chilled after realising they are the only ones capable of helping him, but that's a theory. Perhaps, by the events of GoW 1, he is tired. Really, really tired to be angry at the gods. I even believe that working for them, killing off monsters, keeps his nightmares at bay. As for Persephone, he kills her with the gauntlet of Zeus. If that thing is powerful enough to subdue the Titans, it might be strong enough to kill a god. Although, that diminishes the epic scale of the first game because that game makes it clear that no mortal has killed a god prior. Damn, now that is a plothole.
yeah while editing the video I noticed that he used the Gauntlet. I didn't add any comment on that to the video because it still retroactively makes the first game kinda dumb.
These powers/equipment buff/amplify lorewise for kratos in these games. Look at how ascension he killed the furies which are primordials and not only that’s he’s the son of Zeus. If your a powerscaler in GOW you would know this but if your a casual for kratos in GOW you wouldn’t know this.
I completely agree with all of your points. Especially how sometimes characters just completely had their personality changed with time. Some other characters that I could remember that had this issue is Spongebob and Mickey Mouse. Both of them, from having a human-like personality, changed to being a soulless front cover of a franchise, unable to express any kind of emotions, other than being happy & goofy. Almost like a clown(even I think clowns have more emotions).
The reason I think this commonly happens is because a character is always tied to it's creator. In a way it's an expression of the creators personality and mind. And what I noticed with all these characters, all of them had this problem due to the change of their writers. Usually the first depiction of them is always the truest of their form, with the most amount of personality as how the creator wanted. But whenever they changed writers, not everything that the original creator envisioned of the character translates to the next writer. A lot of the information were lost, either simplified, or misunderstood. It is classic human error. But it's not always a bad thing to change writers, because every writer has their own set of style and ideas, but since they will always try to stay true the "original" vision of the creator, they had to limit what they can expand and improve upon the character, resulting in simplification of the character's personality due to how the writer understood the character. The more you change writers, the more simplified it gets.
As for the God of War reboot, I would imagine Cory Barlog, being part of the GOW development team since the start, would understand more of what Kratos really is. But we can see in both of the new games, that is how he viewed Kratos all this time, how he understands it. I'm not sure who directed GOW 2, but I know it's not David Jaffy. Using his own idea to improve upon what he understood of Kratos, with his understanding. Creates a new story. Same also with GOW 3, which amplifies upon what GOW 2 did.
Now Cory Barlog, maybe had his simplified idea of Kratos is always the latest Kratos, which is GOW 3 Kratos, so we definitely see that a lot in GOW 2018. And we can see in all of the interviews that he really settled his mind on Kratos as the GOW 3 Kratos, neglecting all the details of the previous games, all of which were not written by him. I'm 100% sure he really did not understand Kratos as how the previous and original creator did, as that is the reason why he promotes the story the way he did.
You do know that Cory also wrote GoW 2 and Ghost of Sparta right? Also this video points out that the original creator didn't really understand Kratos as well.
@@gowautist exactly this video is made against brainless ppl who say the common dogshit about kratos and thats it
@@gowautist Keep in mind that David Jaffe(Director/Cretator of GOW) was one of the 4 writers in God of war 1.
Based video.
"Kratos didn't have character until God of War 4!"
That's just "tell me you didn't pay attention to the original God of War games without telling me you didn't pay attention to the original God of War games."
Been playing God of War since I was little kid. Kratos is one of my favorite characters in media... I hate seeing him being "disrespected," for lack of a better term, by people disregarding his development from the OG game. I always love videos like these - makes me happy to know other God of Wars fans understand Kratos.
He kills Persephone because he’s using the gauntlet of Zeus which was used to keep the titans imprisoned in case they tried to escape so if it can kill titans it’ll destroy a god which is why when he kills Persephone in the cutscene they specifically have him use the gauntlet to deliver the killing blow which is also why he lost to charon in the first fight since he didn’t have a god killing weapon and charon was a descendant of a primordial and is older than zeus. As to why he was more disrespectful to the gods he encountered I’d have to agree with you and say that they definitely looked more at gow 2 kratos which was a mistake, but to his defence he was basically doing all of these labours for the gods without any real reward while constantly being haunted by his crimes. He goes from having to fight a war against the persians, to thwarting off morpheus without any break or reward in between and just relying on their promises, so I would say that when he speaks to the deities that way he’s doing it more out of frustration, at the end he clearly was hoping for things to be the way they were instead of having to basically be a pawn of the gods. To top it all off as he’s continuing his journey to stop morpheus the god of nightmares was using his power to remind kratos of his failures which took a heavy toll on kratos’ mental health to the point where he was hallucinating his daughter playing her flute to him. Overall though you make great points about kratos sadly the normies dictate what character progression is
I think the DLC for God of War Ragnarok understood the points you made in this video and what Kratos' motivations were in the original trilogy.
I agree (for the most part) they even went a bit further that I would have in some places.
Honestly GOW 3 makes a lot more sense narratively if you consider it him going postal after being a pawn of the gods. I don't think it's a caricature, I think it's a man who said 'fuck it we ball'
Speaking of DB characters being flanderized, Vegeta is the biggest Casuality of it. His default character trait has become grumpy even though, Saiyan Saga Vegeta was very carefree&relaxed around nappa. The reason behind Vegeta's grumpiness in Z was due to him being goku's lesser, after he let go of that jealousy it doesn't make canonical sense for Vegeta to be grumpy anymore but since that's his most iconic self, DBS writers still write him as a perpetually grumpy guy who yells&rages all the time.
Anytime someone says the old games had worse story telling and that kratos was just a rage monster means you can just disregard what they say, they dont know what theyre talking about.
Exactly bro. Kratos was an awesome character all the way back in the first one. GOW 1 ending with Kratos trying to off himself is heavy shit.
I find the reason that Kratos is attributed as a very angry character is his ruthlessness. Yes, in the first game's cutscenes, he's mostly calm. But he's also extremely ruthless to mostly anyone he encounters. To be fair most are undead creatures trying to kill him. But that also Includes innocent people. Don't forget we gain health points for killing innocents at many parts of the game.
The first game's cut scenes did say that he became a ruthless killer...
like kratos even more now , now that i perfectly understand him
it's not just what we see from GOW 2 what made him bitter
It got even WORSE when he found out his entire family got fucked over by the gods in Ghost of Sparta. His mother and brother were both locked away, then not even long after meeting them they died, and he had to kill his mother because Zeus. THEN Athena just come congratulate the man while he's mourning, pick a better time woman.
And regarding Chain of Olympus, the explanation for why he serves them despite being so fed up with them is in his interaction with Atlas. He's tired of serving them but they're the only one who can help him, because he got no other options.
Incredible video man. Rare is a content creator who approaches their topic with such clarity and understanding. No superfluous, overly-verbose statements or expositions. No BS revisionism or over-reliance on retrospective perspectives. A very straightforward and well thought video.
This is what I noticed in people who understand the content they share with others. Those who understand it to the core, are able to do so in a very simple manner that anyone can follow along and appreciate, even if they don't agree with you.
Like you, I felt this confusion and anger towards people who just called Kratos bloodthirsty and mindless ape. Though I can't say I blame them, because even SANTA MONICA did not understand the character they created. I guess this is why, even though GoW 2 and 3 (and 2018) are my favourite from a gameplay perspective, GoW 1 is my favourite overall, because it's story portrayed a broken and sombre character who had so much depth to him that people, INCLUDING THE DEVS chose to ignore GoW 2 onwards. Hell, even that brief snippet of the GoW 1 dev interview had me taken aback.
I guess this is why, even though I enjoyed the new games (and the PSP games), I was never truly impressed because Santa Monica didn't understand Kratos and it showed in every game (Valhalla excluded).
Subscribed.
Thank you very much, glad you liked it. I also agree that they are doing better with him as a character in Valhalla.
@@theIJPmexican It's a step in the right direction but I don't know if they can ever rectify this misconception of Kratos completely. The more I think about it, the more I dislike his characterisation in Chains of Olympus. Hell, the more I dislike his "angry voice" portrayal in general.
The fix could have been so simple, let the events of chains of Olympus play out the way they do, but portray Kratos exactly how he is in GoW 1. Then Ghost of Sparta comes around and they could show Kratos becoming frustrated and angrier until it all reaches a climax with Deimos' death and that would transition nicely into GoW 2.
The only game where I liked Kratos' "angry" attitude and demeanour was in GoW 3 because of all that has preceded it; Kratos was completely consumed with revenge.
It's crazy how his perception could have been so easily changed by some minor efforts on Santa Monica's side while they were making the Greek games. But alas, now it's as you say, we're stuck in a situation where no one understands Kratos. (Great title btw lol).
This video along with “God of war was always deep you cowards” and “The one thing everyone gets wrong about Kratos” are well done and needed. I don’t get how people can say Greek Kratos was bland raging monster. The first time we see Kratos he is literally attempting suicide. I guess that wasn’t mature enough for people. GOW1, Chains of Olympus, Ascension, Ghost of Sparta, and a few scenes in GOW2 shows what Kratos really feels about himself.
That could easily be seen as edgy and they see it all as immature shallow shit because you sex and kill a lot. It's the actual writing quality that carries it, and that did fall off with some retcons but overall it's good
@@thatitalianlameguy2235 Sex part is just up to player, not canon. Man only done wth his past wives. Playing old games and reading the novels will make folks around world understand better.
@@mailboxmaulerranarchagenteven the sex was to show the depression on kratos. ‘’No matter how much wine he consume or how many woman he took to his bed, nothing on earth could’ve rid him of the horrors that plagued his mind.’’ He basically tried everything he could to at least stop his nightmares for an short amount of time.
Thank you for the video. So many people misunderstand Kratos
I think that Ghost of Sparta shows Kratos' change from how he was in 1 to how he is in 2 and 3. Seeing that the other Olympians are no better than Ares sent him over the edge.
I really like this, but I do think you kinda fell behind when looking back at Ragnarok. The "is it moral to kill something that's trying to kill you" and then protecting Freya isn't contradictory. He didn't protect her from Atreus because it would have been immoral, it was because she was a friend who had at least some potential of being one again. They would most certainly regret killing her in the end and that's why they didn't.
And then talking about his past, what else was he supposed to say there? "I was tricked into killing my family, I was then sad for a bit and then just so happened to get my revenge after serving more gods for a decade." That's much less concise than "I swore revenge" now isn't it?
And then in the end, how he was in GoW3 is all that matters isn't it? The one time you lost your temper matters so much more than the hundreds of times you held it. Rome wasn't built in a day, but it essentially collapsed in one.
She was legit trying to kill him, _kicked his son in the 1st fight sequence_ and Kratos still showed his back.
Pathetic.
@@denkerbosu3551 He literally said he didn't want to live with killing her any more than he wanted to live period. It's not the game's nor Kratos' fault you can't understand that feeling.
@@Kjf365 Don't you have some cats to feed?
@@wank6771 What does this even mean? lol
Agreed. Kratos never let his guard down. He took advantage of Freya being startled and got out of her grasp. The priority in the moment was calming Atreus. He straight up tells Atreus that she is a friend. Freya has been attacking them for years and Kratos has done all that he could to refrain from killing her. Even being stabbed by her in the beginning his focus never shifted from escaping. If he were to slaughter her in that moment there would have been nothing for Atreus to learn and his reason for avoiding her death for all that time would have been for nothing. It's a complicated relationship.
When Kratos killed Baldur Freya didn't draw her weapon forcing us into a boss fight, she cursed Kratos. As a Valkyrie I suppose her character would be in question as well. When Kratos pushed her away to calm Atreus she didn't swoop in for the kill as a Valkyrie normally would have. This entire scene was based off the relationship of all characters present and the severity of the situation.
We fought Atreus in rage mode. Kratos knws what the lack of Atreus self control can do. Why would Kratos let him maul Freya when he has been trying to protect him from experiencing the regret that he himself faces for his past actions ?
If anything this greatly reflects who Kratos is.
Great take, honestly yeah the main streams know old Kratos as the blood thirsty, rage fueled, god killer but I wish his grieving side was shown more as his old life had taken so much from him (wife, daughter, brother, mother and home) and that his vengeance had never given his closure.
kratos in the past: *I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE! ZEUSS!!!*
kratos now: boi
im so glad you made this video. I never really played the first three games bc my parents somehow knew there were sex mini games (still dk how they knew), but when watching walkthroughs I was always confused as to why people say he's always angry when he has shown to feel regret and shame, and it's noticable with the way he speaks, case and point "byt the gods... what have I done." It always tipped me off how game reviewers say the franchise grew from the angry man trope when he was really only that in the third game. I think it's mainly due to the fact that GoW 2018 and ragnorok "feel cinematic" and have slow music and characters moving their eyes slowly is what made people think "Damn this game hella deep." Great video, just subbed
You mean ponderous to give the illusion of depth.
Kratos was always a good character in the old games, that has always been my controversial opinion when talking to friends, thank you for sharing this quality content
I always thought Hades and the other gods let kratos slide with killing Persephone because she was the one who aided in making them all fall into a deep sleep; killing her was a part of saving them so they saw nothing wrong with it. And that's probably why Hades was helping him in GOW1. In GOW3 Hades mentions his anger at Kratos for killing his wife, I think he was holding his anger in towards Kratos all this time for that act even though they had to let it slide because it had to be done to save the gods; and now since Kratos is out to kill all of them he let his true feelings about that situation show.
Kratos' rage in the Greek games is greatly expanded in the PSP games, mainly Ghost of Sparta
@whitelichmage7004 Do general audiences lack critical thinking skills or literary analysis?
@@rustyshackelford4224 Yeah
@@jacobj3933 LOL! How do you this?
Thank you for this video. I'm so glad I wasn't the only one annoyed with how kratos acted in chains of Olympus, like why is he talking like god of war 3 kratos and why is he pissed at the gods, it was weird. Whenever someone says kratos is just an angry guy, I immediately point to god of war 1 and ascension as kratos isn't angry throughout the entire game. Also about god of war Ragnarok I agree about how the ares part of kratos story was really simplified, but you could say that kratos did that on purpose just to let freya know that she isn't the only one who has suffered. Also her being dismissive with kratos was the fact that she hasn't fully forgave him, which she was about to apologize for before kratos cut her off. Also to add more depth into the open your heart scene, I personally interpret that scene as kratos not wanting Atreus to go down the same path he went on. Kratos sacrificing his very soul for victory is what caused his suffering, you can say seeing the midgardians get hurt and Atreus trying to close his heart to that made kratos have memories of his old life of him ignoring his wife when she begged him to stop his conquest. Brilliant video.
this was a dogshit video..... dismissed alot it of keythings in the video
The thing is. He DID want revenge on Ares. He just wanted his visions to go away. Or... maybe looking back on it. He actually wanted Revenge.
@@MariusBoss11458 I always felt like kratos both wanted his memories taken away and to kill ares, but killing ares was of less importance compared to just getting rid of his nightmares. But that doesn't mean revenge was never on his mind to some degree, gow1 confirms this with"ares, you will die for what you did that night" I feel like this video makes it seem that kratos can't have two motivations, with one being less important than the other. After rewatching this video it made me reform that thought.
@@maxfordgaming9278 Yeah. I agree.
Kratos is the answer to who suffered more than Ellie from TLOU. Man has been through so much pain and agony his entire life.
I looks like being a watcher of Sitch & Adam is finally paying off for you. Good insight, good argument, and decenty entertaining at the same time. The jerk Homer and Goku comparsion at the start was a good hook with an awesome follow up.
Not perfect but what is besides Brian Boitano (There is my one old school reference)
I gotta say I’ve rewatched some of this video again and I can say that it’s amazing, it’s memorable and is a classic to me. It’s very well done and is one of my favorite explanations of Kratos.
The music was chill as fuck too
I do feel as though revenge against Ares was always part of his motivation alongside getting rid of his nightmares, even in God of War 1. Not sure if I necessarily agree with Chains of Olympus Kratos being out of character. I think he always felt like a slave to the Gods and just hated his life. And when you think about it they took everything from him. His mother, his brother, his family. The reason he kept doing it I felt was because it's all he had left. Revenge, release, maybe even redemption.
You just agreed with him, his just saying in the first game he didn’t hate them until later on but his just focusing about kratos before he truly took the oath of revenge
maybe part of his resolution , but he souldnt have acted this way to gods when it's outta charcter compared to gow 1.
@@gutsjoestar7450 it was out of his character in ghost of Sparta for sure but after playing the side and what happens in 2-3 his rage makes sense
@@gutsjoestar7450 in the first game they set up that he hated killing the people for ares but was enjoying the power underneath, which is narrated in the intro, only when his family died his humanity comes back and ares fully loses him, its still half kratos fault, if he wasn’t drunk on rage and power he would of seen his family there
@@gutsjoestar7450 so imagine what godhood does to someone who underneath liked power and lost his brother and mother and was betrayed by the gods, rage and path of revenge which ended up causing him to be blinded even forgetting his family which he doesn’t mention in the third game but panadora reminds him of his daughter and you can start to see his sadness and heart come back, third game we aren’t meant to enjoy or want to do what kratos does, you’re just a audience to his self destruction and his guilt at the end for what he does shows why he was worried about his son in the newer game
Wow, thank you TH-cam for recommending me this video lol... just made me realize how widely misunderstood Kratos is :(
Listening to the EFAP on Ragnarok, and hearing mauler break down kratos dealing with the gap where kratos is dwelling on his past makes me want to play these games for the first time. Great video IJP
Thank you mister anvil
the public's perception of kratos as a whole can be traced to how it views violence. "oh you're violent? you must be an ANGRY PERSON"
"oh you had good reasons to turn to violence? you must be SPITEFUL"
kratos also had to be EXTRA violent because he's not fighting mortal men, but massively, stupidly powerful creatures, and eventually gods. he had to get creative just to survive those encounters, as anyone would.
this is not a problem of the public's perception being influenced by later installments of the character, everyone doing these reviews played the same game we did. this is a problem with how mature the public is when it comes to violence. we are a very immature society in the modern day, abhoring violence in any form, even though violence historically can have a positive effect in measured amounts and it often necessary to protect and defend those you love. but modern people surrounded by the modern amenities cannot fathom a world in which they would be forced into violence just for a hope of seeing a second sunrise, in their mind, violence is barbaric in any form. if you're violent, you're aggressive, and aggression is bad! it's just the natural march of public perception, and it isnt going to change until something really, really bad happens, unfortunately.
the says goes;
weak men bring hard times
hard times bring strong men
strong men being good times
good times bring weak men
and for all you feminazis in the comments, yes, you, i can hear your 8 inch long painted fingernails and ragged breathing as you furiously type away in response to me, "men" is being used here to describe the RACE of men, MANKIND, HUMANS.
I think it makes a lot of sense that Kratos in ragnarok would refer to himself as sort of a rage monster. Sometimes it’s just simpler to have an overall view of actions rather than having to relieve everything and go into detail. Also, in ragnarok there’s a few times he goes against his own teachings, it’s just adaptability to what is truly important in the moments
It's so good to see there are people out there that actually get it. Kratos was always a deep character, and watching his descent into madness with his guilt and the constant betrayal while losing everyone important to him beginning too end ate away at his sanity.. Kratos deserves better, the new games are great, but the original trilogy and that Kratos deserves way more respect
Thank you so much for this video. As a former fan of God of War since the first game's release date, it always frustrates me how people and Santa Monica misinterpret Kratos and the original trilogy's story as some dumb schlock that was never mature.
I loathe the Norse games, they are nothing but vanity projects for Cory Barlog to narcissistically announce how his fatherhood changed him and are God of War in name only. Normies turned this franchise into Last of Us lite and it bores me to tears now, from story to gameplay. What a sad fate for what was once one of gaming's most epic IPs.
no problem brother. I'm gonna be making a video on Ragnarok in the nearish future. Also a review of the first game.
@@theIJPmexican Looking forward to it! You earned a subscriber.
...I'm just going to say watch Tactical Bacon Productions' video on how the Greek games enhance the Norse ones (2018 specifically).
The first Gid of War isn't a great game. At best its average because the story is generic and the bosses are too simple
@@tylerleach8796 i love that video.
Hell, even in GOD OF WAR 3, he tries to spare a lot of people. He didn't want to fight Kronos or Hercules, even asking the latter to back down. He ignores Hera at best, until she makes a comment on Pandora (whom Kratos started to see as a sort of a daughter) calling her a whore. He killed Hephaestus only in retaliation.
Feel like modern critics often misunderstand the lessons and themes of Tragic story telling. Instead everything has to be meta and deconstructionist. God I hated to Norns in Ragnarok.
Great video!
Explain please
Yeah. People think that Old Kratos in the new games is deeper because he's full of regret and depressed. But Kratos was always like that. The only difference is that Old Kratos talks about it a lot. Young Kratos literally tried to kill himself. He wasn't just a rage filled power fantasy. He wears the ashes of his past evil deeds on his skin. Kratos's whole deal in the originals was regret and loss. Hew just didn't monologue about it back then.
Finally a guy that noticed these things that i and my friends noticed (not everything he said but some of them)
They kinda confused themselves and their fans lol but they can't confuse the real kratos fan
23:57 kratos doesnt see freya as an enemy he doesnt want to fight
24:11 he didnt feel like killing her even if it was okay for him to do that
I think that we get trapped into viewing ourselves through our worse moments. Kratos' worse moments are the events of the third game. He dwells on them, views himself through that lense. I think GOW 2018 and GOW Ragnarok reflect that.
Kratos may have always have had depth, I never thought him mindless. But even after all this, I can't really see his OG trilogy actions as anything other than monstrous even if half of them he really didn't want to do, because Kratos while raised to be a warrior who rarely spared even the innocent, did in the end choose to be one. So I think that's why people have such love for the 4th and 5th sequels Kratos, it's a way to find redemption for what folks with nostalgia for the series may see as their own monster.
Santa Monica Studios really hated Kratos. That's why they retconned him in the Norse GoW games, which are soft reboots of the franchise...
As a true og of the series this video is greatly appreciated. Kratos is such a great character. The first game is a master peice. The second game was maybe the best of all time.(yes seriously fight me.) The third has the best gameplay IMO and full power pure rage mode godslaying kratos was just awesome to behold. It was a steady progression. I like chains of Olympus it's a good game. Still replay it once in awhile. But yeah it's just frustrating that the plot doesn't really work. Kratos hits f#*k it in gow 2 but before that he was actually ice cold. Not mad. Anger implies victim mentality, if you're angry it's (usually) because of an injustice. You care about something. In gow1 kratos is made off stone because he blames himself for what happened to his family no one else. When the gods tell him to kill ares, he's like "Kill a god?...kill a god... Kill a god! Yes I do believe he's earned it." He's not really "mad" at him. It's like you said the thought never occurred to him before. The gods give him a chance for revenge so he gladly accepts. He only really gets mad when Zeus murders him. Who wouldn't be mad? Lol Gow3 had the dumbest excuse for depowering kratos though. The titans put all that work into kratos in gow2 then they're like "Nah whatever we don't need you." What? Yes you do though! What? Zeus kick all your asses before...WTF? Would have been cool if he just got more and more powerful somehow or something. Just not that. Lol
“He seems pretty chill”
"How GoW matured with its audience" is one of the worst breakdown videos I've ever seen in my life
now this is a great video essay. this is the type of videos i like where i can just listen and chill with it.
I would love to see Tactical Bacon's reaction tot his one. I like that you both touch the same point. Would be even better if you both talked about it on a stream or such. I'd watch that in a heartbeat.
I would also love to see his reaction to it haha
@@theIJPmexican if you ever get in contact, please! STREAM! i want to see back and forth.
Even David Jaffe himself doesn't understand Kratos. It's like he didn't pay attention to his own game
this video is much needed , the studio itself has forget what a great and tragic character they have created with full Of emotions and pain , they have done such a dirty character assassination Of kratos in ragnarok , portraying him as if he was just a killing machine with no emotions and motivation , and that now he is regreting about his past , it is such a bullshit, everyone was so mean to kratos in greek pantheon and the gods just wanted to torture him they wont even let him die peacefully in first game , all kratos ever wanted in his life was peace which will come death , and this mf made him the allfather in ragnarok as if he aspired to be worshiped and bullshit
The fact that you think Kratos regretting his revenge (said revenge being responsible for THE DESTRUCTION OF GREECE) is "character assassination" says more about you than it does the Norse games.
Kratos never considered Freya an enemy, to be fair. I feel like he saw her as more of an obstacle to avoid. Dude literally offered his life to her if she felt like taking it.
One big critcism I've had to the IP it's consistency. Take for example in GOW Ragnarok. It feels like the plot skipped a beat in the narrative with Surtr. When Surtr says “Put those in here. And I’ll become your monster.”
It feels Kratos should immediately deny this because he himself was a person made into weapon in service to a god. It feels a bit of character assassination of Kratos to be on board with taking a loved one away from another person and turn them into a weapon in the service of a god. It's clear Kratos changes when he tells Atreus to open his heart, that’s the moment where Kratos realizes empathy is important that being god who loves and cares has a profound change then being an cruel deity.
However, throughout the game conversations have flavor dialog with Kratos, Mimir and Freya talking about enslavement, being used, and how it affected them. It is gross that Kratos is comfortable with turning someone (Surtr) into a monster to serve a god. Not only is it reflective how Kratos is enlisted by Ares to use Kratos as his weapon, just as Kratos enlisted Surtr as his weapon. But the use of terminology “I’ll be your monster” is reflective of GOW (2018) when Kratos says to Athena;s Memory “I am your monster no longer.”
It's bizarre the writers would draw on parallels like this so nearly one to one (unless they earnestly rushed and didn’t see them) since they are clear parallels with use of terms and it for me it’s a disservice Kratos as he’s grown.
watching this video as my GOW2 game is frozen. As soon as I start typing this it unfreezes after like ten minutes wtf!
im taking credit for unfreezing your game
I'm 100% agree with all of your point, especial how doesn't make sanse the plot in gow chain of olympus, and people who judging og kratos has a angry one dimensional character without playing all the og game, only playing 3
Him being Motivated by Revenge against the Gods is Because of Their Promise being Unfulfilled and Due to the Events of Gow Ghost of Sparta where Zeus Cursed His Mother and His Brother was Kidnapped By The Gods( This is Before Kratos Became a Spartan General which is his Earliest Appearance in Gow Games) and Thanatos Killed His Brother in Gow Ghost of Sparta( Both Gow GoS and Gow Betrayal are Important Prequels to Gow 2) .
I've always been on the fence when it came to problems that stemmed from the director's choices, like that moment in the clip where Kratos talked about killing his family and swearing revenge (22:36).
I do think that they dropped the ball on that particular part, but I can also see some narrative justification for that line despite what you're saying. It isn't uncommon for someone to remember events differently after a long period of time and Kratos forgetting it wasn't all about revenge at first would make sense since the thing he's sick and tired of is revenge.
That being said I do believe this was an issue with the teams understanding of Kratos and a mistake with the writing. However with that being said I do want to quote something Michael Kirkbride (One of the former developers for The Elder Scrolls series) once said, but I can't remember what he said word for word so I'm going to give it my best shot.
The best thing about a fictional story is that you don't have to agree with what you are being told about the story or its world, even by it's creators, you are free to interpret what you see however you want to and if you want to share those thoughts you are free to do that however you want.
I know there are some comic books that show a Kratos with his family. Like he try to find a cure for Caliopy. I think your video is very well done. Thank you for your insite.
I agree but I disagree with the points you make about the new god of war with freya.
In Ragnarok Kratos, makes it very clear that has dose not want to harm Freya as he see her as the one who saved his son. Also it is very clear that when BOY turns into a bear calming him down is Kratos top priority sense last time he turned into a bear he lost control.
Other wise I enjoyed learning more about a character I got to learn about in the two most recent titles.
Thank you so much for making this!
no problem man