Thanks everyone for watching! All important links are in the description, for sources, shout outs and my social media/other channels along with the timestamps for each chapter. This video was a pretty big task, but one I enjoyed every second of, really hope you enjoy!
1:29:00 that is clearly Kratos. That image there isn't Modi, it's his father. Hell is already tormenting him with visions. "That wasn't me" because Atreus didn't kill his father, but he was going down the path that would eventually lead him there. Look at the bald head and the attire the image is wearing, it's Kratos. Everyone gets this wrong, I wish the devs included his red tattoo that would have made it much clearer. Hell just took a memory Atreus had and warped it to torment him, and given the theme of the game that's where he should have ended up if he didn't break the cycle of domestic violence between son and father
@@rara3538just watched, actually does look a little like kratos but doing the motion of what modi and atreus did earlier on. And the subtitles say 'modi' so who knows, maybe a little Easter egg prophecy or just visually a little confusing
45:32 Mimir explains this later in the fast travel sections. The world serpent claims that he recognizes Atreus, after which Mimir states that during the final battle between Jormungandr and Thor in Ragnarok, their clash splinters the world tree, and the world serpent is hurled back in time before his own birth.
@@poobface4218 Not necessarily. The splintering doesn’t necessarily have to be visible, as we have no idea the extent to which it actually affected the tree. Could be small, could be big.
@@Joeman4627 I mean kinda makes sense, since he’s basically stuck in a time loop which coincides with the end of the world as far as the Aesir are concerned
One of my favourite things in the third act of the game is how Atreus pretends not to have seen Zeus. He lies to Kratos rather than questioning him on it. By this point he knows his father would rather tell him on his own account
Man now I can’t stop thinking about Apollo riding his chariot while being endlessly chased by a gigantic wolf LMAO. Thank you for putting such a wonderful image in my head James
Helios & Ra arguing over who gets to walk Skoll on which particular days while Amaterasu drinks Shinto sake would be one of the most hilarious God of War spin-offs yet
Ok so i think that we give things meaning. Like we find something valuable acording to the situation we are in (sometimes money, sometimes food, etc...) So basically greeks belived that Helios was the one who put out the sun so there he was doing the deeds mortals imagined him to do, but in Norse mythology there were the wolfes so with Norse's faith there they were. If noone belived they existed they wouldn't exist to begin with and they would have no value. I hope it makes sense 😁
One of my favorite lines from Kratos is when he said "I killed many who were deserving, and many who were not." really drives it home how much he regrets being a killer.
Yes, Atreus suddenly get drunk on godhood did seem out of character. But it also comes immediately after being given wine that is hundreds of years old. He literally is drunk, whilst still trying to come to terms with finding out about his godhood. Its a clever, subtle touch that i love
Not really Atreus didn’t drink that much and then got a magic revitalisation after falling I’ll it’s likely the thing didn’t even intoxicate him Also I question how they are even drinking it Ancient wine isn’t like modern stuff it was essential a concentrate (thing a squash or liquid kool aid) and would be syrupy in nature and needed to be watered down to be made drinkable
@@TAP7a seriously. He went from feeling like the smallest weakest thing in this world to finding out he’s a literal god. What 11 year old wouldn’t have a power trip.
Kratos in my eyes is a perfect representation of trauma, I guess more specifically how a parent’s trauma can affect how they raise their children. It’s also such an honest representation of how a lot of men bury their trauma because of our traditional idea of masculinity.
Asking for a friend, how does a male go about allowing themselves to, we’ll be vulnerable and talk about the things that bother them👉👈 I don’t wanna seem weak..
Find a therapist or a good friend, otherwise don’t. Some of the people here might decry the evil of traditional masculinity and whatnot, but from personal experience, weak and vulnerable men are seen as worse than trash. No sympathy will be given to you. From everyone I talk to, and from my own experiences, it is better to not talk about it and find your own way out.
@@PulseBladeenjoyer personally I think it’s about stoicism - knowing when to show weakness, be vulnerable and expressing intense emotion. When you are in front of your enemy you can’t do that, why, because everyone is counting on you to keep them safe and protect. It also would also be giving your enemy leverage. In front of your family, close friends and by your self I would seem more than acceptable I can understand Atreus’ want for his father to connect with him but I can also understand Kratos’ not wishing to open up. This world is dangerous and he’s only thing standing between Atreus’s well-being and death. He can’t be someone who Atreus deems someone that he can’t rely upon. I do think what the game is trying to say isn’t that Kratos’ is wrong in his approach but that he needs to trust and connect with his son for his own benefit, and if he ever wants Atreus to become a man better than him.
@@PulseBladeenjoyer it’s weird, but you need to be strong to be honest about them. There’s a lot of weakness in not being able to confront the shame of releasing one’s feelings. This doesn’t means you can be a rampant ball of emotions, you have to be mature about how you let them out. You’ll find that as soon as you comprehend your feelings it’s easier to let go of the bad ones, and express the good ones-which trust me, everyone will think better of you the moment you start expressing your good feelings openly.
A small, but important detail that I would have put from their return to Helheim is how in trying to mend his relationship with Atreus, Kratos invites him to help with lifting that stone away from the ship, even though he doesn't need his help. It helps Atreus feel included and useful once more, just like with the giant hammer.
Atreus seeing his own reflection in helheim suggest more of his denial. He couldn't believe he was that cruel to a humanoid. He was crying over killing the deer at the game start. He thinks he's a good person but the reflection says otherwise.
Regarding the end to God of War 2018 and in accordance with Norse mythology, Loki's father is called Fárbauti, which literally means "cruel-striker". This is what the Jötnar call Kratos in the mural of Jotunheim and it fits him to a T when taking into account his bloodstained past from the previous games.
When Kratos reveals up the Blades of Chaos, the start of the game's theme plays. The lyrics translated is this: Exiled God. Father's shame. Mother's love. Wounds remain. Confront the past.
This was the perfect video to watch before Raganrok's release! Brilliantly written, narrated and edited I'm blown away by how hooked you kept me for the full 140 minutes. Great job!
I think it's cool that the first thing Atreus asks after learning if he's a god is if he can turn into an animal, and then in Ragnarok one of his main abilities is turning into animals. Amazing foreshadowing
What about the scene where Jormundgander spits the axe back to Kratos in the boat when they first see him. It said "Eitr Imbued'.....Eitr is a poison from the belly of the world serpent. Low and behold after 30 hours of game play and you beat GOW 2018, and then wait almost 5 years for Ragnarok to come out, you see it finally take form in the first fight with Thor. His wound from the Axe never heals. And if you go into the top area of the Great Lodge when playing as Atreus in Asgard you can listen in on two characters conversation amongst themselves speaking about a rumor that someone has tried to poison Thor. Also that a God named Forsetti is investigating this poison. That is truly some amazing foreshadowing!
@@MrKirk94that actually really frustrated me. You’re not wrong in what you said at all. It’s just that it felt like such a lack luster conclusion. A wound? One little slash on his side? It didn’t even seem to effect Thor. He never seemed like he was in pain. He was never weaker. So what the fuck was the point of that amazing seed? It’s like putting a shotgun on the wall and having it do nothing. Sorry, don’t mean to bitch. Rag kinda let me down. 2018 was amazing and I felt like we were not delivered what was expected.
35:50 what everyone fails to mention is Atreus taking out that _ENTIRE_ Dark Elf army by himself, proving how capable he is on his own. I was honestly impressed. Because I remember _I_ couldn't even handle them on my own, when they would swarm me in that particular section of the game.😨
@@LazerzZ I think a lot of us did, but it made me really respect Atreus. I could imagine how traumatic that experience would be for a child, even if they're a demi god.
I love the threat from Freya of doing the most vile shit to him as he's basically already had the worst threats happen to him in the earlier games and he's just like meh it'll be fine
Kratos doesn't fear her but he acknowledges that he did the wrong thing for his own reasons. It wasn't what she wanted, it was what he wanted. That's why he doesn't react to it. He knows what he did was unsolicited and for that he doesn't regard her desire as unjustified.
Can I just say how beautiful this game’s soundtrack is? The sound design and every track on the games soundtrack is absolutely either beautifully stunning or providing a sense of power.
I can't express how much this game means to me. As a son with a rocky relationship with my father for a long time it spoke to me. This franchise was the first game my father gave me to own. And the bond we share with this series and story it told brought us closer. No matter how amazing this video is and it is amazing. I don't think anyone can truly describe what this game does for people. It's something you have to experience yourself. Well done vid. This game is a once in a lifetime time experience and you did such a good job conveying the lesson and story that comes with it
"But I think it's really good" My guy, I'm barely a God of War fan; I only recently got interested in GoW 2018 after seeing a close friend be hyped for Ragnarok for a couple months by now. I not only watched this, I thoroughly enjoyed it! It's a perfect video to have playing in one ear while I waste away on a work shift. Excellently paced, if my friend's hype didn't get me interested, the way you framed this retrospective has sold me.
The fact the Witch of the Woods freaks out upon seeing the mistletoe arrows is a clue as to her identity as Freya to these who don’t know the game beyond what they’ve played yet do know Norse mythology and that Baldur has already been identified in the narrative (if you know your mythology you probably pegged him as such by the prologue fight against him).
Not to mention, as Kratos and Atreyus are sailing through the Lake of the Nine for the first time, Kratos asks Atreyus about the local Norse gods, specifically any that are *incapable of feeling pain*.
It’s not that Atreus doesn’t remember doing those things, when he says “that wasn’t me” it means that seeing it from the outside he doesn’t recognize himself in how he was asking, honestly a real weird assumption to make from that
It's refreshing to see a post using 'reinvention' instead of 'reboot'. I've seen the latter in regards to 2018 so often, that I was a bit concerned regarding how many people understood the concept of reinventing rather than rebooting.
In regards to the speculation of what the story of Atreus of Sparta means, It could be that there’s a deeper meaning that will be revealed but I think at least part of it’s message is already laid bare, kratos obviously respected Atreus of Sparta’s strength, skill and sacrifice, but that’s not the core of why he named his son after this man, he even says that all Spartans were more or less like that, they were raised from birth to exhibit those qualities and be willing to sacrifice themselves for their brothers, it’s not massively special for a Spartan, what kratos really remembered about Atreus of Sparta and seemed to respect even more was his attitude and his outlook on life, he was happy and kinder than your average Spartan, he faced the world with a smile instead of a frown, that’s what made him stand out and earned him the admiration of his fellow soldiers, the memory of Atreus brought him comfort and it seems he wants the same qualities and fate for his son, not to be hard faced and cold like kratos or to face the world grimly like he says all Spartans did and like Atreus thought he had to in order to earn his fathers respect, rather he wanted a son who could be like Atreus of Sparta, to be happy, wear a smile, hold compassion and be unlike himself, which is exactly what the game preaches, for Atreus to be better than kratos, to be like Atreus of Sparta
Yeah definitely, which I do think is the core meaning behind the story, to show that Kratos does actually deeply respect who Atreus is as a person and is proud of him, it’s this reflection that again, Atreus can be better than he was.
Atreus of Sparta is the Spartan Captain who is first introduced in ‘God of War II’, the one Kratos accidentally kills before fighting the Kraken and someone Kratos has great admiration for. It’s just another example of the developers reverence for the lore of ‘God of War’.
I think one of the things the makes the original series so compelling is how it portrays the destructive nature of wrath. By the time 3 kicks in, he's lost (or sacrificed) who he was and in many ways become the very thing he hates all in the understandable pursuit of revenge. That's why him finally taking in the sheer scale of the collateral damage he's caused in his crusade is so compelling to me.
What amazes me is how GoW 2018 is basically GoW 4 (but they wanted to avoid confusion I guess). I cannot think more of other series that had sequel that changed so much but stayed familiar
"Freya wants to rebuild her relationship with her son, but Baldur is too far gone, and she just doesn't see that." I don't think she "doesn't see" that he's too far gone, but that she doesn't care. Knowing everything that Freya went through, her broken marriage to the treacherous Odin, the betrayal of her own people, her inability to reconcile with them due to Odin's lies, and the continuously degrading condition of the realm she was trapped in; Baldur was literally the only thing left she had to live for, and death by his insane hand was probably preferable to everything else, a small penance for the damage she knew she had caused. But once he died, she continued to live for a new reason, and that was vengeance.
You got yourself a new sub from this vid. I’ve just finished Ragnarok (yes, it’s just as good as it’s made out to be in marketing; I honest to God cried at the end. Real tears that I had to wipe away because I couldn’t see the screen anymore), and since then, I’ve been neck deep in GoW videos. I listened to this while at work and was totally engrossed with your breakdown of the 2018 story. I’m so excited to hear your breakdown of Ragnarok, and I’m supremely interested to listen to your other video essays. Cheers
Man, this game is just...so good. I just started my own playthrough a couple of days ago. I know what happens story wise, so I'm not worried about what happens next, and I'm fine watching analysis videos like yours on it. Even on easy (because I'm here for a good time, not for a long time), I have to give props to the scaling. I'm only at Alfheim, but that realm tear? Kicks my ass. Every time. And I wouldn't have it any other way. It feels awesome. While I'm undecided on the Valkyries, I really wanna try at least one to "get" it, you know? I also wanna give a shout out to my own favourite playthrough, that being from Jesse Cox and his friend Jirard "Dragonrider" "The Completionist" Khalil. I've never had so much joy watching two dudes fanboying over the return of one of their favourite franchises return. And like, Jirard doesn't skimp on difficulty either. The video on fighting Sigrun is especially an interesting study of muscle memory, anticipation, and the absolute elation defeating her you don't see anywhere else except for defeating Soulsborne bosses.
24:42 family was actually a REALLY big deal in old norse culture alot of people mistakenly assume the biggest thing in old viking culture is war and battle but not your family was the most important thing to you thats why you fought
One thing about the optional worlds, is that the roguelike is required for certain achievements. You need to go there for the valk. You need the armor to get enough time to beat the valk. You need to go there to get the final upgrade for your weapons. That is, if you don't go to NG+
God of War Ragnarok was the most epic story I have ever seen. God of War never disappoints. Hope we will see more of this! Unbelievable job by the developers and the whole cast of actors involved, truly amazing!
@@LusciousTwinkle where are the plot holes? I can respect your opinion on the story even though I disagree, but I genuinely cannot think of any plot holes
@Towel I thought it was narratovely excellent and emotionally resonant but I think 2018 is a better and tighter game. I found Ragnarok itself underwhelming which is really sad. Gonna play 2018 and Ragnarok back to back now to see how they feel together with no rest
@@bengough6772 I agree. I absolutely loved the first 2/3 of the game but everything after tyr’s betrayal felt super rushed to me. 2018 definitely had a more impactful third act but overall with the gameplay and qol changes ragnarok is the better game in my opinion (just barely though).
Fun fact the reason thors cut doesn't heal from kratos's axe is because it's Eitr imbued from the first game, which also references thor being "bit" by the world serpent.
Your point about the dozen or so trolls we fight in the game does make a lot of sense but I can't really blame them since the team DID want to include other bosses, like the giant bird in Helheim, but ran out of both time and budget and so had to use the trolls so much. Hopefully with Ragnarok and Sony having way more faith in it than 2018 they have the budget to keep the beautiful visuals AND give the team more room to include more boss and enemy variety. And about the mistletoe arrows being very convenient. I think that ultimately ties back to Faye and her foresight. She knew what needed to happen. We know that she and Sindri were close. Faye would've foreseen that Baldur's weakness is mistletoe. She also would've known that pushing Atreus and Kratos to become closer throughout the story would ultimately lead to Atreus wanting to protect his father. It would make sense Sindri had made those at her request at some point and still had them in his magically huge bag because she never came back for them, and also why he'd give them to Atreus because that is her son and him helping save Sindri may have reminded him of her. All the pieces line up far too easily for it to have NOT been Faye's doing, and the subtly of it works because it would be far too large a hint to outright say it. Also kinda bummed you forgot about the scene of Atreus fixing the sky lantern in the mountain since it shows Kratos actively remembering things about his son and paying attention to him since he does the exact same thing later with the ship in Helheim. A little neat parallel like Atreus parroting Kratos' "I've got a plan. JUMP!" line that he had on the hammer later on in Helheim as well. It really shows their bond and how they learnt from one another.
Nah for sure, I’m not blaming them, I’m just critiquing the game as it exists, whether there was a good reason or not it is a negative aspect. Not something that ruins the game though.
I think if the troll in helheim and the two in Tyrs temple were replaced that would improve the game immensely. I dont think the issue is the number of trolls, I think they are a good first boss fight and later serve as a good miniboss. In fact i'd love to have seen them feature in Musphelheim. The issue I have is that those two examples in paticular feel like locations where we could have expected to see something a lot more interesting.
I feel that saying it is all Faye’s work is a bit cheap cause yes she is mysterious but other than the fact that she was probably a good mom and wife from both Kratos and Atreus and is a formidable fighter and survival that is all we knew with the prophecy being very vague. It is entirely possible that they were there prior and Faye knew so wanted Atreus to see them hoping that he was Loki. Which is why she wanted to name him as such. As to why the mistletoe arrows. I believe she found out from Mimir thought it doesn’t mean she didn’t trick him for the information that Mistletoe was Baldur’s weakness prior to Mimir being silenced by Freya on that topic. So she had Sindri make them cause Baldur is Odin’s tracker and was tracking her down for him and Thor. So she knew she needed the arrows to defend herself but once the arrows were done things happened. I think this is when Kratos showed up which changed Faye’s plans a good bit and due to this she didn’t have the time or forgot to visit Sindri or thought that the arrows would be better used by Sindri. After all he and Brok would need the arrows if Baldur decided to chase two legendary smiths down to make something for Odin.
This was a wonderful analysis, thank you so much for making it! I never played any other GoW games until the 2018 and Ragnarok ones, but still they gave us so much to work with and it's so character driven it's made me cry multiple times. They're real masterpieces
Everybody labels the old games as nothing but rage, and I suppose that's mostly true. However, I always come back to the first line we ever hear Kratos say.. "The Gods of Olympus have abandoned me, now there is no hope" - As he casts himself off the mountain, presumably to his death. This is a seriously personal and introspective moment, and gave tremendous depth to the characters motivations in the first seconds of the first game. That coupled with the death of his family, I always thought God of War was a tragedy, not so much about rage, but about loss.
For sure, I agree, it’s about both. It’s about revenge and the trauma that comes from deep loss. It just doesn’t hugely explore that outside of the revenge angle, GoW 2018 takes the time to do that.
Anyone else never even played one of the games but followed all this and watch all these videos because of just how much work and sweat and tears was poured into this?
I'm maybe 10 hours into Ragnarok when I stumbled on this video. I sorta forgot how beautiful the first Norse god of war game was. That ending still gets me
Seriously great video man, extremely well put together and the pacing is great. It gave me even MORE appreciation for this game than I already had which I didn’t think was possible. I salute you
I really like changes they made for sequel. Especially for many unique boss fights I faced in Ragnarok. I prefer easier combat systems (Like Sekiro for example) but game (Gow Ragnarok and Gow 2018) still manages to provide many options and not force to use only one
This video is amazing. It perfectly encapsulates the absolute awesomeness and satisfaction of the beautiful story of God of War. Many times was I agreeing with an insight I had also found about the story that you displayed and many times did I learn new insights about this vast and multifaceted masterpiece. It feels like you captured all my emotions about this game and condensed them into a video. Thank you.
Fantastic video. It's gotten me even more hyped for Ragnarok. I watched this after watching your Subnautica Below Zero video, which was also great. Keep up the good work man
This game is art. I truly believe that God of War 2018 is one of, if not, the best game of all time. Even now, after Ragnarok, this game continues to blow me away.
I already enjoyed this game but damn now I love it a thousand times more. Most of your explanations I already thought on my own but certain things such as Baldur symbolizing what Atreus could be and what Kratos was just makes me see it in a whole new light. This was a very beautiful video, attention grabbing and filled with intelligence. You have gained a new subscriber for sure.
I can tell you firsthand that playing 2018 first and delving into the original games, it's like uncovering a man's past that haunts him til the ends of times, and Ragnarok really helps with this too- it definitely really helped me love the story being told, and even if I was very little when the games came out I still found a way to get into them thanks to 2018.
I don't know if it's that, or just being afraid of someone else knowing and spilling the truth to Atreus. (Mimir's head *was* still with him, after all...)
One thing I noticed is that Kratos still didn't tell Atreus about killing his previous family, something I think is going to come back to bite him in the ass in Ragnarok
@@MishraArtificer sure but there is a big difference between telling someone who killed vaguely large number of innocence and telling your son that you killed his half sister and your first wife.
Whenever Athena appears, I'm 100 percent convinced that it's actually her. I'm not sure how many people are aware, but there's a comic that shows Kratos between the Greek and Norse games. Athena appears frequently, haunting him much like she does here.
i like to think Magni and Modi are simple by themselves because they're just a fraction of what Thor is and what he is capable of, especially when you see casually and easily he can throw Kratos around *without even using his hammer* in Ragnarok. whether or not it was intended, i think it's a pretty neat idea.
Just commenting to help with the algorithm and to let you know that this is by far one of your best videos. Keep it up, you deserve better and you probably will have it. The quality of your work is immensely high.
Usually your takes on AC age like fine wine. I myself prefer an old maxed account, that suddenly receives tons of new interesting achievables comparatively to wine, but still. Your AC takes are what made me further get in touch with my emotions for all these games. I'm eager to see more critiques and reviews from you. It's such a fresh air from raw playthroughs, own and watched alike.
James you killed this vid man. Damn great job. Just watching your retrospective brought back all of the feelings I had in the first play through. Brilliantly written and edited.
It does make sense that there where so many "But there's still another thing" because it shows the lengths that Tyre went to to protect the giant's realm and Odin's paranoia and desire to prevent travel to realms that could lead to his down fall.
dude, i thought id just skim through this, but sat down and watched the whole thing, remarkably done a brilliant essay about a brilliant game, you've hit all the beats I myself sensed while playing and love to see that it wasn't just me who enjoyed the storytelling in this game (well ofc apart from the stupid troll fights and the OBVIOUSLY GREEN ARROW HEAD ON ATREUS' CHEST, is freya legally blind?)
"Target Fixation" sucks. She's focused on taking the mistletoe arrows and destroying them over all else in that moment. Besides: it's not like Atreus can launch just the arrowhead at Baldur...right? And Freya didn't even know at that point that Baldur was the one following them.
1:41:42 Atreus mentioned he never be in any giants belly but by the end of the game you get to know he actually be in a giants belly as his mother was a giant
The story, the characters, the score, the gameplay and the performances are out of this world. The greatest game of all time and one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. Thanks for making this amazing retrospective James. You are the best in the game when it comes to these types of videos!!
I dislike the RPG elements and exploration of the game. It felt like 90% of the time I was picking up useless garbage from the ground just to sell it and traveling on the slow ass boat. I hope the new cart with the 2 wolfs is funner to use and that the RPG elements are more flashed out so that there are actually good builds to make instead of using those 3 4 meta builds while everything else is useless.
been watching for a few days, and i’m replaying and like i’m trying to play cod too but watching this again is really making it hard to play any other game this story is just insane. i’m about to have my first kid in may so maybe it just hits harder now but i can’t wait to play this with my child BOY or girl
I bought this game after it came out on pc. Played through the entire main story, did all the side stuff, did NG+, got all the achievements. If that doesn't say how much I love this game, I don't know what will.
As somebody who started with 2018 I don’t see how anybody can not like it I mean the visuals are incredible, the world and lore is fascinating, the characters are all interesting, the music is incredible and the gameplay is hell of a lot of fun but does get a little repetitive with a lot of the same enemies which I think is it’s really only weakness. I mean I get it it’s a pretty big departure from the original formula but it evolved imo in a good way
love that Kratos still has all his scars. burns from the chains, the sword through his chest, the ash on his skin, and tattoos for his brother. he wears his past on his skin, literally, but is so guarded that who he is stays a mystery to his son. post ragnarok i think the final mural is loki/atreaus returning the souls of the giants to their bodies. singing a song to return them from their slumber. after all, he is their champion.
The thing that really takes me out of this game, is that the enemies dissolve immediately after death like an old arcade game, felt like they didn’t understand the new tone they set
Not only is this an excellent video but you also gave great shout outs to other channels and videos that I have enjoyed. Always cool to see people who are great at their craft that also build up other creators in their field
My only minor disappointment with the adaptive storytelling in the side quests (and this is really very minor) was that I didn't complete Fafnir's Storeroom until the postgame, so Atreus' shock at the reaver killing his dad felt kinda hollow, given he already knows that Kratos killed Zeus at this point
A lot of people seem to get stuck in an era, unable to accept that as we grow and change, so can the media that we take in. The best part about TV, music, and games is that, no matter how much we change, the old stuff will always be there for us to visit. But that doesn't mean that our media shouldn't change as well. Could we have gotten a very angry Kratos fighting Thor and Odin? Sure. But seeing Kratos change, grow, become wiser and sharing that wisdom with his son, it's very rewarding and helps us connect to Kratos and who he is now, just like young Kratos was there for all us angsty teens who were literally angry with the world and able to take it out on Zeus. People change over time, so too should our media. Many of us who grew up with Kratos have kids of our own now, and many of us don't. For those who have kids, Atreus makes a great addition as he allows us to see all the interactions between Kratos and Atreus and recognize that, just as Kratos has matured and taken on a new role in life, so too have we. Any good father would move mountains to see their child safe and happy, just as we see Kratos topple statues and defeat dragons to do the same for his son. For those of us without kids, like myself, it gives us something to look forward to, a peek into an aspect of life we don't have experience with. KRATOS is no model father, and we can understand this. We can see he tries, however. He is a father that we can see in ourselves, he becomes a model to us, what to do and what not to do. When to act and when not to. When to punish, and when to hold back and recognize that maybe they've been punished enough. And for those who are new to God of war, maybe you're a child yourself, we get to see Kratos through the eyes of Atreus, like what LazerzZ says. We get to discover who he was, who he is now, and just as Atreus is taking on this wisdom, so too should we. Many who haven't played the originals will associate more with Atreus. "We're God's, we can do whatever we want". "We're tired of dealing with little people's little problems". We don't know what Kratos went through, we just know that we're powerful here, and it's a channel for us to unleash that power in ways we can't do here in the real world. No matter how you came across GOW2018, one things for sure, we can all connect to Kratos in one form or another. Yes he's changed, but this change has made him better. Recognizing this, truly connecting with him, can make us better too. Media is designed not to tell stories, but to spread knowledge, provide escape, and to help us grow in ways that suit us. For Kratos to hit all of these and provide ways to connect with so many people, it's a mark of great writing and all the right choices. People change, so should our media. I provided the same rant for Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart, I hope this rant finds a home here as well. Excellent work LazerzZ, I look forward to seeing more from you.
The pacing in this game is simply perfection. I also think the replay value is vastly superior to the sequel. I put over 1400 hours into it. I couldn't stop playing it over and over again.
Very good video as always, one small thing I would've liked for you to add: "the cycle ends here" when Kratos kills Baldur he is directly quoting Zeus, his father, who killed him with the blade of Olympus at the start of God of War 2, obsessed with the fear of being overthrown by his son the same way he has overthrown his father, Kronos. "You will never be the ruler of Olympus, the cycle ends here"
Its so amazing that you added that ONE time where an enemy jumps out of the coffin thing.. i know exactly what you mean thinking it might be something you have to watch out for from then on
Thanks everyone for watching!
All important links are in the description, for sources, shout outs and my social media/other channels along with the timestamps for each chapter.
This video was a pretty big task, but one I enjoyed every second of, really hope you enjoy!
There are in totaly 3 cheat jump scares in gow 2018 😁
Watched it all, enjoyed it 👌
1:29:00 that is clearly Kratos. That image there isn't Modi, it's his father. Hell is already tormenting him with visions. "That wasn't me" because Atreus didn't kill his father, but he was going down the path that would eventually lead him there. Look at the bald head and the attire the image is wearing, it's Kratos. Everyone gets this wrong, I wish the devs included his red tattoo that would have made it much clearer. Hell just took a memory Atreus had and warped it to torment him, and given the theme of the game that's where he should have ended up if he didn't break the cycle of domestic violence between son and father
@@rara3538just watched, actually does look a little like kratos but doing the motion of what modi and atreus did earlier on. And the subtitles say 'modi' so who knows, maybe a little Easter egg prophecy or just visually a little confusing
O
😅h😮🎉
Using the blades that killed his daughter to now save his son is poetic as hell
Like a wise man once said "its story is still being written"
No it’s spelled like
Hel
Not hell silly
Holy hades
@@p3pable you’ve come a long way from when I first met you brother
You mean Hel
45:32 Mimir explains this later in the fast travel sections. The world serpent claims that he recognizes Atreus, after which Mimir states that during the final battle between Jormungandr and Thor in Ragnarok, their clash splinters the world tree, and the world serpent is hurled back in time before his own birth.
which is exactly what happened in god of war ragnarok
Yea the serpent never dies for some reason
@@ibrahimimran3858 minus the splintering
@@poobface4218 Not necessarily. The splintering doesn’t necessarily have to be visible, as we have no idea the extent to which it actually affected the tree. Could be small, could be big.
@@Joeman4627 I mean kinda makes sense, since he’s basically stuck in a time loop which coincides with the end of the world as far as the Aesir are concerned
One of my favourite things in the third act of the game is how Atreus pretends not to have seen Zeus. He lies to Kratos rather than questioning him on it. By this point he knows his father would rather tell him on his own account
True, very very good character writing
Also a tiny bit of foreshadowing of him being Loki
Man now I can’t stop thinking about Apollo riding his chariot while being endlessly chased by a gigantic wolf LMAO. Thank you for putting such a wonderful image in my head James
"Who's a good boy? You are!" - Apollo to Skoll, probably.
I actually think that's a really neat idea and makes sense why the wolf is chasing it.
He's walking the dog.
Helios & Ra arguing over who gets to walk Skoll on which particular days while Amaterasu drinks Shinto sake would be one of the most hilarious God of War spin-offs yet
Ok so i think that we give things meaning. Like we find something valuable acording to the situation we are in (sometimes money, sometimes food, etc...) So basically greeks belived that Helios was the one who put out the sun so there he was doing the deeds mortals imagined him to do, but in Norse mythology there were the wolfes so with Norse's faith there they were. If noone belived they existed they wouldn't exist to begin with and they would have no value. I hope it makes sense 😁
One of my favorite lines from Kratos is when he said "I killed many who were deserving, and many who were not." really drives it home how much he regrets being a killer.
Yes, Atreus suddenly get drunk on godhood did seem out of character. But it also comes immediately after being given wine that is hundreds of years old. He literally is drunk, whilst still trying to come to terms with finding out about his godhood. Its a clever, subtle touch that i love
No, it starts before the drink, way back when he first heard he was a god he starts to lay on the ego
Not even a child would get drunk on a sip of wine for mortals.
Not really Atreus didn’t drink that much and then got a magic revitalisation after falling I’ll it’s likely the thing didn’t even intoxicate him
Also I question how they are even drinking it
Ancient wine isn’t like modern stuff it was essential a concentrate (thing a squash or liquid kool aid) and would be syrupy in nature and needed to be watered down to be made drinkable
... what child, no matter how empathetic or conscientious or otherwise, *wouldn't* go absolutely nuts if they found out they were a god?
@@TAP7a seriously. He went from feeling like the smallest weakest thing in this world to finding out he’s a literal god. What 11 year old wouldn’t have a power trip.
Kratos in my eyes is a perfect representation of trauma, I guess more specifically how a parent’s trauma can affect how they raise their children. It’s also such an honest representation of how a lot of men bury their trauma because of our traditional idea of masculinity.
Asking for a friend, how does a male go about allowing themselves to, we’ll be vulnerable and talk about the things that bother them👉👈 I don’t wanna seem weak..
Find a therapist or a good friend, otherwise don’t.
Some of the people here might decry the evil of traditional masculinity and whatnot, but from personal experience, weak and vulnerable men are seen as worse than trash. No sympathy will be given to you.
From everyone I talk to, and from my own experiences, it is better to not talk about it and find your own way out.
@@PulseBladeenjoyer personally I think it’s about stoicism - knowing when to show weakness, be vulnerable and expressing intense emotion. When you are in front of your enemy you can’t do that, why, because everyone is counting on you to keep them safe and protect. It also would also be giving your enemy leverage. In front of your family, close friends and by your self I would seem more than acceptable
I can understand Atreus’ want for his father to connect with him but I can also understand Kratos’ not wishing to open up. This world is dangerous and he’s only thing standing between Atreus’s well-being and death. He can’t be someone who Atreus deems someone that he can’t rely upon.
I do think what the game is trying to say isn’t that Kratos’ is wrong in his approach but that he needs to trust and connect with his son for his own benefit, and if he ever wants Atreus to become a man better than him.
@@PulseBladeenjoyer it’s weird, but you need to be strong to be honest about them. There’s a lot of weakness in not being able to confront the shame of releasing one’s feelings. This doesn’t means you can be a rampant ball of emotions, you have to be mature about how you let them out. You’ll find that as soon as you comprehend your feelings it’s easier to let go of the bad ones, and express the good ones-which trust me, everyone will think better of you the moment you start expressing your good feelings openly.
@@PulseBladeenjoyer there is no greater teacher than time and experience. One gains a different wisdom from hardship than you can from words.
A small, but important detail that I would have put from their return to Helheim is how in trying to mend his relationship with Atreus, Kratos invites him to help with lifting that stone away from the ship, even though he doesn't need his help. It helps Atreus feel included and useful once more, just like with the giant hammer.
Atreus seeing his own reflection in helheim suggest more of his denial. He couldn't believe he was that cruel to a humanoid. He was crying over killing the deer at the game start. He thinks he's a good person but the reflection says otherwise.
"It is not who you are, but it is who you have been as of late."
Regarding the end to God of War 2018 and in accordance with Norse mythology, Loki's father is called Fárbauti, which literally means "cruel-striker". This is what the Jötnar call Kratos in the mural of Jotunheim and it fits him to a T when taking into account his bloodstained past from the previous games.
When Kratos reveals up the Blades of Chaos, the start of the game's theme plays. The lyrics translated is this:
Exiled God.
Father's shame.
Mother's love.
Wounds remain.
Confront the past.
Woah! And what language was it?
Norse, it's sung in Norse. An Icelandic dialect I believe
So awesome, reminds of Dual of the Fates, I believe the song is sung in Sanskrit but I may be wrong.
@@tylerosborne3106No you’re definitely correct! According to Wiki, the lyrics are based on part of an old Welsh poem but were sung in Sanskrit 😊
This was the perfect video to watch before Raganrok's release! Brilliantly written, narrated and edited I'm blown away by how hooked you kept me for the full 140 minutes. Great job!
Thank you so much! Really glad you enjoy 🙌🏻
I think it's cool that the first thing Atreus asks after learning if he's a god is if he can turn into an animal, and then in Ragnarok one of his main abilities is turning into animals. Amazing foreshadowing
What about the scene where Jormundgander spits the axe back to Kratos in the boat when they first see him. It said "Eitr Imbued'.....Eitr is a poison from the belly of the world serpent. Low and behold after 30 hours of game play and you beat GOW 2018, and then wait almost 5 years for Ragnarok to come out, you see it finally take form in the first fight with Thor. His wound from the Axe never heals. And if you go into the top area of the Great Lodge when playing as Atreus in Asgard you can listen in on two characters conversation amongst themselves speaking about a rumor that someone has tried to poison Thor. Also that a God named Forsetti is investigating this poison. That is truly some amazing foreshadowing!
Do remember its foreshadowing of who he actually is. What his name was supposed to be.
@@MrKirk94that actually really frustrated me.
You’re not wrong in what you said at all. It’s just that it felt like such a lack luster conclusion. A wound? One little slash on his side?
It didn’t even seem to effect Thor. He never seemed like he was in pain. He was never weaker. So what the fuck was the point of that amazing seed? It’s like putting a shotgun on the wall and having it do nothing.
Sorry, don’t mean to bitch. Rag kinda let me down. 2018 was amazing and I felt like we were not delivered what was expected.
35:50 what everyone fails to mention is Atreus taking out that _ENTIRE_ Dark Elf army by himself, proving how capable he is on his own. I was honestly impressed. Because I remember _I_ couldn't even handle them on my own, when they would swarm me in that particular section of the game.😨
True that’s a really good point that I just completely glossed over, wish I’d mentioned it
@@LazerzZ I think a lot of us did, but it made me really respect Atreus. I could imagine how traumatic that experience would be for a child, even if they're a demi god.
He didn't take them on all at once it was over a period of time
@@bigtone7824 very good point, still very impressive for Atreus to do that on his own.
in novel we learn that the dark elves only wanted to capture atreus not kill him, and they only came 2 by 2 they did not all jump at him at once
I love the threat from Freya of doing the most vile shit to him as he's basically already had the worst threats happen to him in the earlier games and he's just like meh it'll be fine
She mad cuz bad
It was less a ”meh” type reaction and more of a “ yeah I’d probably want to destroy the whole world if someone did that to my son”
@@grigoregruesome3606 He also already did exactly that because of what he was tricked into doing to his previous wife and daughter.
Only that kratos is on a whole different power level than her.
Kratos doesn't fear her but he acknowledges that he did the wrong thing for his own reasons. It wasn't what she wanted, it was what he wanted. That's why he doesn't react to it. He knows what he did was unsolicited and for that he doesn't regard her desire as unjustified.
Can I just say how beautiful this game’s soundtrack is? The sound design and every track on the games soundtrack is absolutely either beautifully stunning or providing a sense of power.
@KC ohhhhhh yes I feel the weight of it every time I play it
"Echoes of An Old Life", by itself, is an absolute masterpiece.
"Seek and find brave men
To Valhalla, they go and dwell there"
These retrospective videos are some of the best gaming videos on TH-cam! Fact
False.
@@peterlawson8040 bears eat beets
@@smokeyjoe2816 bears beets battlestar galactica
@@bushidobrown6742bears do not eat- what is going on? WHAT ARE YOU DOING
I can't express how much this game means to me. As a son with a rocky relationship with my father for a long time it spoke to me. This franchise was the first game my father gave me to own. And the bond we share with this series and story it told brought us closer. No matter how amazing this video is and it is amazing. I don't think anyone can truly describe what this game does for people. It's something you have to experience yourself. Well done vid. This game is a once in a lifetime time experience and you did such a good job conveying the lesson and story that comes with it
I'm absolutely loving the Ass Creed slander within the first minute 👍
Ass Ass Inn's Creed.
Dirty, smelly Ass Creed
This was a great watch! Love your style of delivery. Thanks for the shoutout as well. A few of your community members jumped over and said hi!
Truly appreciate that, really love your work 🙌🏻
"But I think it's really good"
My guy, I'm barely a God of War fan; I only recently got interested in GoW 2018 after seeing a close friend be hyped for Ragnarok for a couple months by now. I not only watched this, I thoroughly enjoyed it! It's a perfect video to have playing in one ear while I waste away on a work shift. Excellently paced, if my friend's hype didn't get me interested, the way you framed this retrospective has sold me.
The fact the Witch of the Woods freaks out upon seeing the mistletoe arrows is a clue as to her identity as Freya to these who don’t know the game beyond what they’ve played yet do know Norse mythology and that Baldur has already been identified in the narrative (if you know your mythology you probably pegged him as such by the prologue fight against him).
Not to mention, as Kratos and Atreyus are sailing through the Lake of the Nine for the first time, Kratos asks Atreyus about the local Norse gods, specifically any that are *incapable of feeling pain*.
It’s not that Atreus doesn’t remember doing those things, when he says “that wasn’t me” it means that seeing it from the outside he doesn’t recognize himself in how he was asking, honestly a real weird assumption to make from that
It's refreshing to see a post using 'reinvention' instead of 'reboot'. I've seen the latter in regards to 2018 so often, that I was a bit concerned regarding how many people understood the concept of reinventing rather than rebooting.
In regards to the speculation of what the story of Atreus of Sparta means, It could be that there’s a deeper meaning that will be revealed but I think at least part of it’s message is already laid bare, kratos obviously respected Atreus of Sparta’s strength, skill and sacrifice, but that’s not the core of why he named his son after this man, he even says that all Spartans were more or less like that, they were raised from birth to exhibit those qualities and be willing to sacrifice themselves for their brothers, it’s not massively special for a Spartan, what kratos really remembered about Atreus of Sparta and seemed to respect even more was his attitude and his outlook on life, he was happy and kinder than your average Spartan, he faced the world with a smile instead of a frown, that’s what made him stand out and earned him the admiration of his fellow soldiers, the memory of Atreus brought him comfort and it seems he wants the same qualities and fate for his son, not to be hard faced and cold like kratos or to face the world grimly like he says all Spartans did and like Atreus thought he had to in order to earn his fathers respect, rather he wanted a son who could be like Atreus of Sparta, to be happy, wear a smile, hold compassion and be unlike himself, which is exactly what the game preaches, for Atreus to be better than kratos, to be like Atreus of Sparta
Yeah definitely, which I do think is the core meaning behind the story, to show that Kratos does actually deeply respect who Atreus is as a person and is proud of him, it’s this reflection that again, Atreus can be better than he was.
Atreus of Sparta is the Spartan Captain who is first introduced in ‘God of War II’, the one Kratos accidentally kills before fighting the Kraken and someone Kratos has great admiration for. It’s just another example of the developers reverence for the lore of ‘God of War’.
I think one of the things the makes the original series so compelling is how it portrays the destructive nature of wrath. By the time 3 kicks in, he's lost (or sacrificed) who he was and in many ways become the very thing he hates all in the understandable pursuit of revenge. That's why him finally taking in the sheer scale of the collateral damage he's caused in his crusade is so compelling to me.
What amazes me is how GoW 2018 is basically GoW 4 (but they wanted to avoid confusion I guess).
I cannot think more of other series that had sequel that changed so much but stayed familiar
Yeah at the very least the first game is a greek tragedy
"Freya wants to rebuild her relationship with her son, but Baldur is too far gone, and she just doesn't see that."
I don't think she "doesn't see" that he's too far gone, but that she doesn't care. Knowing everything that Freya went through, her broken marriage to the treacherous Odin, the betrayal of her own people, her inability to reconcile with them due to Odin's lies, and the continuously degrading condition of the realm she was trapped in; Baldur was literally the only thing left she had to live for, and death by his insane hand was probably preferable to everything else, a small penance for the damage she knew she had caused.
But once he died, she continued to live for a new reason, and that was vengeance.
This actually got me even more hyped than I already was for Ragnaröck. Good job
ragnarök*
*Ragnarök
god i’ve missed this so much
i fucking love when you post long video essay type videos always amazing editing while talking super in depth about some of my favorite games
Thank you! I love working on them, glad to hear they resonate with people, it always makes the process feel that bit more worth it 🙌🏻
You got yourself a new sub from this vid. I’ve just finished Ragnarok (yes, it’s just as good as it’s made out to be in marketing; I honest to God cried at the end. Real tears that I had to wipe away because I couldn’t see the screen anymore), and since then, I’ve been neck deep in GoW videos. I listened to this while at work and was totally engrossed with your breakdown of the 2018 story. I’m so excited to hear your breakdown of Ragnarok, and I’m supremely interested to listen to your other video essays. Cheers
Man, this game is just...so good. I just started my own playthrough a couple of days ago. I know what happens story wise, so I'm not worried about what happens next, and I'm fine watching analysis videos like yours on it. Even on easy (because I'm here for a good time, not for a long time), I have to give props to the scaling. I'm only at Alfheim, but that realm tear? Kicks my ass. Every time. And I wouldn't have it any other way. It feels awesome. While I'm undecided on the Valkyries, I really wanna try at least one to "get" it, you know?
I also wanna give a shout out to my own favourite playthrough, that being from Jesse Cox and his friend Jirard "Dragonrider" "The Completionist" Khalil. I've never had so much joy watching two dudes fanboying over the return of one of their favourite franchises return. And like, Jirard doesn't skimp on difficulty either. The video on fighting Sigrun is especially an interesting study of muscle memory, anticipation, and the absolute elation defeating her you don't see anywhere else except for defeating Soulsborne bosses.
I Cannot Wait for Jesse and Jirard's playthrough of Ragnorak.
Genuinely love these videos. I have to respect your craft and dedication to these videos. Take it easy chief
Really appreciate it!
24:42 family was actually a REALLY big deal in old norse culture alot of people mistakenly assume the biggest thing in old viking culture is war and battle but not your family was the most important thing to you thats why you fought
James I freaking love your videos man. Seriously! Thank you for making these masterful breakdowns. They are so insightful.
One thing about the optional worlds, is that the roguelike is required for certain achievements. You need to go there for the valk. You need the armor to get enough time to beat the valk. You need to go there to get the final upgrade for your weapons. That is, if you don't go to NG+
God of War Ragnarok was the most epic story I have ever seen. God of War never disappoints. Hope we will see more of this! Unbelievable job by the developers and the whole cast of actors involved, truly amazing!
Really? Ever? You need to consume some culture. It was a mediocre story with much morality posturing and plot holes.
@@LusciousTwinkle where are the plot holes? I can respect your opinion on the story even though I disagree, but I genuinely cannot think of any plot holes
@Towel I thought it was narratovely excellent and emotionally resonant but I think 2018 is a better and tighter game. I found Ragnarok itself underwhelming which is really sad. Gonna play 2018 and Ragnarok back to back now to see how they feel together with no rest
@@bengough6772 I agree. I absolutely loved the first 2/3 of the game but everything after tyr’s betrayal felt super rushed to me. 2018 definitely had a more impactful third act but overall with the gameplay and qol changes ragnarok is the better game in my opinion (just barely though).
@Towel I think 2018 is better overall but I'm still gonna do a bunch of this end game content and then replay both back to back to see how that feels
Fun fact the reason thors cut doesn't heal from kratos's axe is because it's Eitr imbued from the first game, which also references thor being "bit" by the world serpent.
Your point about the dozen or so trolls we fight in the game does make a lot of sense but I can't really blame them since the team DID want to include other bosses, like the giant bird in Helheim, but ran out of both time and budget and so had to use the trolls so much. Hopefully with Ragnarok and Sony having way more faith in it than 2018 they have the budget to keep the beautiful visuals AND give the team more room to include more boss and enemy variety.
And about the mistletoe arrows being very convenient. I think that ultimately ties back to Faye and her foresight. She knew what needed to happen. We know that she and Sindri were close. Faye would've foreseen that Baldur's weakness is mistletoe. She also would've known that pushing Atreus and Kratos to become closer throughout the story would ultimately lead to Atreus wanting to protect his father. It would make sense Sindri had made those at her request at some point and still had them in his magically huge bag because she never came back for them, and also why he'd give them to Atreus because that is her son and him helping save Sindri may have reminded him of her. All the pieces line up far too easily for it to have NOT been Faye's doing, and the subtly of it works because it would be far too large a hint to outright say it.
Also kinda bummed you forgot about the scene of Atreus fixing the sky lantern in the mountain since it shows Kratos actively remembering things about his son and paying attention to him since he does the exact same thing later with the ship in Helheim. A little neat parallel like Atreus parroting Kratos' "I've got a plan. JUMP!" line that he had on the hammer later on in Helheim as well. It really shows their bond and how they learnt from one another.
Nah for sure, I’m not blaming them, I’m just critiquing the game as it exists, whether there was a good reason or not it is a negative aspect. Not something that ruins the game though.
I think if the troll in helheim and the two in Tyrs temple were replaced that would improve the game immensely. I dont think the issue is the number of trolls, I think they are a good first boss fight and later serve as a good miniboss. In fact i'd love to have seen them feature in Musphelheim. The issue I have is that those two examples in paticular feel like locations where we could have expected to see something a lot more interesting.
I feel that saying it is all Faye’s work is a bit cheap cause yes she is mysterious but other than the fact that she was probably a good mom and wife from both Kratos and Atreus and is a formidable fighter and survival that is all we knew with the prophecy being very vague. It is entirely possible that they were there prior and Faye knew so wanted Atreus to see them hoping that he was Loki. Which is why she wanted to name him as such. As to why the mistletoe arrows. I believe she found out from Mimir thought it doesn’t mean she didn’t trick him for the information that Mistletoe was Baldur’s weakness prior to Mimir being silenced by Freya on that topic. So she had Sindri make them cause Baldur is Odin’s tracker and was tracking her down for him and Thor. So she knew she needed the arrows to defend herself but once the arrows were done things happened. I think this is when Kratos showed up which changed Faye’s plans a good bit and due to this she didn’t have the time or forgot to visit Sindri or thought that the arrows would be better used by Sindri. After all he and Brok would need the arrows if Baldur decided to chase two legendary smiths down to make something for Odin.
Super stoked for this, had such a good time with the game when I first played it last year.
This was a wonderful analysis, thank you so much for making it! I never played any other GoW games until the 2018 and Ragnarok ones, but still they gave us so much to work with and it's so character driven it's made me cry multiple times. They're real masterpieces
Thank you for mentioning Jeremy Davies phenomenal performance as Baldur!! He truly stole the show everytime he was on screen. He is a fantastic actor!
Everybody labels the old games as nothing but rage, and I suppose that's mostly true. However, I always come back to the first line we ever hear Kratos say.. "The Gods of Olympus have abandoned me, now there is no hope" - As he casts himself off the mountain, presumably to his death. This is a seriously personal and introspective moment, and gave tremendous depth to the characters motivations in the first seconds of the first game. That coupled with the death of his family, I always thought God of War was a tragedy, not so much about rage, but about loss.
For sure, I agree, it’s about both. It’s about revenge and the trauma that comes from deep loss. It just doesn’t hugely explore that outside of the revenge angle, GoW 2018 takes the time to do that.
incredible video. I like that u focused on analysis, rather than just recounting events that happened. Humour was rly good and almost all jokes landed
This is the perfect refresher/recap vid before Ragnarok
Subscription earned. This was excellent. Can’t wait for the Ragnarok video and what ever comes after.
Anyone else never even played one of the games but followed all this and watch all these videos because of just how much work and sweat and tears was poured into this?
I'm maybe 10 hours into Ragnarok when I stumbled on this video. I sorta forgot how beautiful the first Norse god of war game was. That ending still gets me
You got a real talent of making these long videos engaging.
Appreciate it! 🙌🏻
Can't wait!
Both for the game itself and for this video
Seriously great video man, extremely well put together and the pacing is great. It gave me even MORE appreciation for this game than I already had which I didn’t think was possible. I salute you
The combat is so in-depth. I didn’t realize til my 3rd playthru you could level up the runics and get added animations and attacks. So fucking good
I really like changes they made for sequel. Especially for many unique boss fights I faced in Ragnarok.
I prefer easier combat systems (Like Sekiro for example) but game (Gow Ragnarok and Gow 2018) still manages to provide many options and not force to use only one
@@Nazylexx the combat in Ragnarok is absolutely amazing
Well this video earned a sub. I will never not be down for multihour retrospectives on stuff like this.
This video is amazing. It perfectly encapsulates the absolute awesomeness and satisfaction of the beautiful story of God of War. Many times was I agreeing with an insight I had also found about the story that you displayed and many times did I learn new insights about this vast and multifaceted masterpiece. It feels like you captured all my emotions about this game and condensed them into a video. Thank you.
Finally, love u man for making this video, I'm so excited for it to drop 🔥🔥🔥
Fantastic video. It's gotten me even more hyped for Ragnarok. I watched this after watching your Subnautica Below Zero video, which was also great. Keep up the good work man
Truly appreciate it!
This game is art. I truly believe that God of War 2018 is one of, if not, the best game of all time. Even now, after Ragnarok, this game continues to blow me away.
I already enjoyed this game but damn now I love it a thousand times more. Most of your explanations I already thought on my own but certain things such as Baldur symbolizing what Atreus could be and what Kratos was just makes me see it in a whole new light. This was a very beautiful video, attention grabbing and filled with intelligence. You have gained a new subscriber for sure.
I can tell you firsthand that playing 2018 first and delving into the original games, it's like uncovering a man's past that haunts him til the ends of times, and Ragnarok really helps with this too- it definitely really helped me love the story being told, and even if I was very little when the games came out I still found a way to get into them thanks to 2018.
I just finished platinum 🏆 today and i love to say this one of the best game i ever played
HOrah!
The way Kratos voice changes to one of fear when he says "Zeus...my father" he was geniunely afraid his father was back
I don't know if it's that, or just being afraid of someone else knowing and spilling the truth to Atreus. (Mimir's head *was* still with him, after all...)
Ahh dude I've been waiting to watch this for weeks. Hype is real
Watching this video for a SECOND time because I’m at work and I can’t start Ragnarok yet and it’s a spectacular video
One thing I noticed is that Kratos still didn't tell Atreus about killing his previous family, something I think is going to come back to bite him in the ass in Ragnarok
I think they're added into the "and many who did not" that he alluded to...
@@MishraArtificer sure but there is a big difference between telling someone who killed vaguely large number of innocence and telling your son that you killed his half sister and your first wife.
Whenever Athena appears, I'm 100 percent convinced that it's actually her. I'm not sure how many people are aware, but there's a comic that shows Kratos between the Greek and Norse games. Athena appears frequently, haunting him much like she does here.
i like to think Magni and Modi are simple by themselves because they're just a fraction of what Thor is and what he is capable of, especially when you see casually and easily he can throw Kratos around *without even using his hammer* in Ragnarok. whether or not it was intended, i think it's a pretty neat idea.
Just commenting to help with the algorithm and to let you know that this is by far one of your best videos. Keep it up, you deserve better and you probably will have it. The quality of your work is immensely high.
Appreciate you!
This video is so amazing, can't imagine how much time and effort you had to put in. Great work 👍
very well written man, easy to follow by just listening. excellent work
32:47 A PORTAL 2 REFERENCE!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME!! AMAZING!!
Usually your takes on AC age like fine wine. I myself prefer an old maxed account, that suddenly receives tons of new interesting achievables comparatively to wine, but still.
Your AC takes are what made me further get in touch with my emotions for all these games.
I'm eager to see more critiques and reviews from you. It's such a fresh air from raw playthroughs, own and watched alike.
When Zeus speaks to Kratos in Helheim, all I hear is Count Dooku
Classic Corey Burton, he’s everywhere!
James you killed this vid man. Damn great job. Just watching your retrospective brought back all of the feelings I had in the first play through. Brilliantly written and edited.
It does make sense that there where so many "But there's still another thing" because it shows the lengths that Tyre went to to protect the giant's realm and Odin's paranoia and desire to prevent travel to realms that could lead to his down fall.
I love how Atreus always inadvertently fucks things up, paying homage to Loki in away
dude, i thought id just skim through this, but sat down and watched the whole thing, remarkably done a brilliant essay about a brilliant game, you've hit all the beats I myself sensed while playing and love to see that it wasn't just me who enjoyed the storytelling in this game (well ofc apart from the stupid troll fights and the OBVIOUSLY GREEN ARROW HEAD ON ATREUS' CHEST, is freya legally blind?)
"Target Fixation" sucks. She's focused on taking the mistletoe arrows and destroying them over all else in that moment. Besides: it's not like Atreus can launch just the arrowhead at Baldur...right? And Freya didn't even know at that point that Baldur was the one following them.
1:41:42 Atreus mentioned he never be in any giants belly but by the end of the game you get to know he actually be in a giants belly as his mother was a giant
Okay now that’s cool
The story, the characters, the score, the gameplay and the performances are out of this world. The greatest game of all time and one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. Thanks for making this amazing retrospective James. You are the best in the game when it comes to these types of videos!!
I dislike the RPG elements and exploration of the game. It felt like 90% of the time I was picking up useless garbage from the ground just to sell it and traveling on the slow ass boat. I hope the new cart with the 2 wolfs is funner to use and that the RPG elements are more flashed out so that there are actually good builds to make instead of using those 3 4 meta builds while everything else is useless.
@@IlNamelessKinglI doesn’t take away from the excellent combat
42:30 When I played GOW(2018) I never, not once, got jumpscared like this. It's so cool
been watching for a few days, and i’m replaying and like i’m trying to play cod too but watching this again is really making it hard to play any other game this story is just insane. i’m about to have my first kid in may so maybe it just hits harder now but i can’t wait to play this with my child BOY or girl
I bought this game after it came out on pc. Played through the entire main story, did all the side stuff, did NG+, got all the achievements. If that doesn't say how much I love this game, I don't know what will.
Holy shit man this is a great analysis.
I loved your Ragnarok review too. We agree on a lot.
Well done! Love this guy's personality!
The sun is still Apollo’s chariot, he’s just riding for dear life away from the Giant Wolf chasing him for reasons he doesn’t know
Headcanon accepted, because that's fucking funny.
People are so obsessed with this sigma alpha shit I can’t believe they would hate kratos becoming an actual character
Cant wait to wake up tomorrow and this video be 6 years later
Time flies 🥲
As somebody who started with 2018 I don’t see how anybody can not like it I mean the visuals are incredible, the world and lore is fascinating, the characters are all interesting, the music is incredible and the gameplay is hell of a lot of fun but does get a little repetitive with a lot of the same enemies which I think is it’s really only weakness. I mean I get it it’s a pretty big departure from the original formula but it evolved imo in a good way
love that Kratos still has all his scars. burns from the chains, the sword through his chest, the ash on his skin, and tattoos for his brother. he wears his past on his skin, literally, but is so guarded that who he is stays a mystery to his son.
post ragnarok i think the final mural is loki/atreaus returning the souls of the giants to their bodies. singing a song to return them from their slumber. after all, he is their champion.
The thing that really takes me out of this game, is that the enemies dissolve immediately after death like an old arcade game, felt like they didn’t understand the new tone they set
Possibly too tricky graphically?
Not only is this an excellent video but you also gave great shout outs to other channels and videos that I have enjoyed. Always cool to see people who are great at their craft that also build up other creators in their field
Truly appreciate that 🙌🏻
My only minor disappointment with the adaptive storytelling in the side quests (and this is really very minor) was that I didn't complete Fafnir's Storeroom until the postgame, so Atreus' shock at the reaver killing his dad felt kinda hollow, given he already knows that Kratos killed Zeus at this point
Yeah, I agree
A lot of people seem to get stuck in an era, unable to accept that as we grow and change, so can the media that we take in. The best part about TV, music, and games is that, no matter how much we change, the old stuff will always be there for us to visit. But that doesn't mean that our media shouldn't change as well. Could we have gotten a very angry Kratos fighting Thor and Odin? Sure. But seeing Kratos change, grow, become wiser and sharing that wisdom with his son, it's very rewarding and helps us connect to Kratos and who he is now, just like young Kratos was there for all us angsty teens who were literally angry with the world and able to take it out on Zeus.
People change over time, so too should our media. Many of us who grew up with Kratos have kids of our own now, and many of us don't. For those who have kids, Atreus makes a great addition as he allows us to see all the interactions between Kratos and Atreus and recognize that, just as Kratos has matured and taken on a new role in life, so too have we. Any good father would move mountains to see their child safe and happy, just as we see Kratos topple statues and defeat dragons to do the same for his son. For those of us without kids, like myself, it gives us something to look forward to, a peek into an aspect of life we don't have experience with. KRATOS is no model father, and we can understand this. We can see he tries, however. He is a father that we can see in ourselves, he becomes a model to us, what to do and what not to do. When to act and when not to. When to punish, and when to hold back and recognize that maybe they've been punished enough.
And for those who are new to God of war, maybe you're a child yourself, we get to see Kratos through the eyes of Atreus, like what LazerzZ says. We get to discover who he was, who he is now, and just as Atreus is taking on this wisdom, so too should we. Many who haven't played the originals will associate more with Atreus. "We're God's, we can do whatever we want". "We're tired of dealing with little people's little problems". We don't know what Kratos went through, we just know that we're powerful here, and it's a channel for us to unleash that power in ways we can't do here in the real world.
No matter how you came across GOW2018, one things for sure, we can all connect to Kratos in one form or another. Yes he's changed, but this change has made him better. Recognizing this, truly connecting with him, can make us better too. Media is designed not to tell stories, but to spread knowledge, provide escape, and to help us grow in ways that suit us. For Kratos to hit all of these and provide ways to connect with so many people, it's a mark of great writing and all the right choices.
People change, so should our media. I provided the same rant for Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart, I hope this rant finds a home here as well. Excellent work LazerzZ, I look forward to seeing more from you.
yeah i reckon i'll signal boost this one 📈
4:36 Assassin’s Creed talk
1:21:05 Justifying Atreus’ newfound arrogance
1:24:09 Atreus mad at Sindri
1:54:47
Was the line with Kronos and Uranus a real thing or a joke? Either way I laughed my ass off for a good 5 minutes straight. 🤣🤣
Uranus is actually the father of Kronos, it’s real 😂
🤨
The pacing in this game is simply perfection. I also think the replay value is vastly superior to the sequel. I put over 1400 hours into it. I couldn't stop playing it over and over again.
1:20:24 You heard it here first lads, RAGNARÖK IS SEX
Very good video as always, one small thing I would've liked for you to add: "the cycle ends here" when Kratos kills Baldur he is directly quoting Zeus, his father, who killed him with the blade of Olympus at the start of God of War 2, obsessed with the fear of being overthrown by his son the same way he has overthrown his father, Kronos. "You will never be the ruler of Olympus, the cycle ends here"
Its so amazing that you added that ONE time where an enemy jumps out of the coffin thing.. i know exactly what you mean thinking it might be something you have to watch out for from then on
Watching this after your Ragnarok review made me realize how Ragnarok's story was bad