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DoctorObviously

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May 22, 2009
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As much as I liked the games, you do have a point. But, there aren't many writers who think as far as you do.

It is extremely hard to nigh impossible to make a story with NO plot holes, NO mistakes, EVERYTHING PERFECT while it needs to appeal to many people ALL AT THE SAME TIME. I know, as I'm a writer myself.

That moment where you blamed a quote for needing to be in children's stories? Maybe the writer genuinly felt good in putting that in the last game. I thought it fitted. It's among the things that kept Kratos going: hope. And I feel bad for saying it again, but it needs to be said: opinions. I dare to bet the writer of GoW 3 thought she did a good job.

If you want gaming to be at their full potential, you need to clone yourself, because it will be impossible otherwise; you can't just cram your idea's in another persons head. Imagine if you came onto my desk and started critisizing my book and how you think it's bad and how I need to change it, but I felt good while writing it, and I won't let anyone tell me what to do. Critisizing is fine, but telling someone what to do isn't.
 

K_Dub

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Oct 19, 2008
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See, I've always kinda felt that GoW 2 was missing something, only since I never really try and disect games like you guys do, I could never put my finger on it. But now I don't have to since you guys have done it for me.

I've always considered GoW 2 to be the strongest game of the series, gameplay and graphics-wise that is(haven't played GoW 3). Story line wise though, I definitely prefer the first game. Kratos has a goal to obtain, with an understandable reason behind it. In the second game though, he transforms from and undertandably frustrated guy into a total dick. I really wish the director of the first game had stuck with the series. I kinda feel like he woulda done it better.
 

Azure-Supernova

La-li-lu-le-lo!
Aug 5, 2009
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Whether intentional or not, each game seems to show the degredation in Kratos' humanity. In the first game, we see him fighting for a cause, in the hopes to rectify a mistake. In the second after our hero's hopes are dashed, we see the start of the degredation as Kratos seeks to take out his revenge on the Gods. For two perfectly good reasons. By the end of the second game, Kratos has become even mightier than Zeus himself and absolute power corrupts. It seems pretty natural that by the third game, Kratos would be a walking machine of inflicting death.

Pretty funny, because the tragedy is actually in the Gods' deaths. They lead Kratos on, kept him believing he would be relieved of his painful memories. They stopped him from committing suicide and made him a God. They gave him the means to engage in battle and quench his thirst for blood (probably fuelling further power and bloodlust). In the end, they brought about their own demise.

Maybe Kratos is meant to be a character with redeeming qualities, because we get to see the monster he has become. We get to see how the Gods' have toyed with him and pulled his strings. We get to see the tragedy of the puppeteers being systematically slaughtered by their puppet.
 

RTR

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Mar 22, 2008
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Very nice guys.
I agree with the whole stroy problem with the series. I think Yahtzee said something along these lines in an XP column and in his review of GoW III.
Although, they did forget to mention Kratos' final sacrifice after killing Zeus. Maybe it was too little too late for people to see Kratos in a different light. Maybe. I mean, it did do just that for me.
Also, I can appreciate the hole "hope" thing if done right. I don't think that fits in the context of a Greek tragedy, which is exactly what GoW III wasn't.
 

Jumplion

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Mar 10, 2008
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I suggest to start with the standard way you started before, the "Hello, my name is this, and we're going to talk about these" and then start going on with the topic. It feels just a tad rushed to just start with the topic and go on without an introduction, as not every new viewer is going to watch the first episode and know what the series is about.

Still, great video, as always, I'm anticipating Thursdays even more because of you guys! I've played God of War 1 and 3, though oddly enough only parts of 2, but I still enjoyed all of them. The original God of War does leave a good feeling with me, and at times God of War 3 did feel a bit ham-handed in it's story. But it's not really the story that people go to the God of War series for, so we're not really "accepting" mediocrity as genius. We're accepting "badassery" as friggin' awesome.

If you're going to do a video on what a game does right with storytelling and what it did wrong, I would suggest doing another video (or two) on a game(s) that tell story well/badly (Shadow of the Collosus/Resident Evil). Seems only fair, and more people knowing about Shadow of the Collosus couldn't hurt :D
 

Anthony English

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Apr 3, 2010
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i think the video has the right of things, i felt the first game didn't really need a sequel however the disconnection of the story from the first game and the resulting sequels was pretty bad. They take a guy who at the end realises his mistakes and mourns/throws himself into the ocean over them giving you the sense that he finally understands what his actions have done.

so after giving the character that realisation they basically yank that and just make him start blaming others it makes no sense.
 

daedrick

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Jul 23, 2008
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This is really not far behind doraleous which is my number one serie on this website. I absolutly LOVE this one. A lot more meaningful than zero pounctuation. Actually, when Im thinking about it, it is zero punctuation, but an intelligent version of it.

If I could vote and give you my five stars, I definatly would. Thanks for making that show. :D
 

Unesh52

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May 27, 2010
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The story in GoW is absolute tripe, I think we can all agree on that. The thing that really gets on my tits about it though is that

Athena retcons that shit so the sword Kratos kills Ares with is fueled by "the power of hope" instead of discarnate evil

thereby infecting the first game with the stigma of the last. I say we declare the latter titles non-cannon.
 

CitizenV

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Jun 15, 2010
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For me these are the best videos on the escapist at the moment, Yahtzee cries games are art, but you show us that they are.
 

Swifteye

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Apr 15, 2010
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Ridgemo said:
Something weird has happened this week, i just don't agree with any video posted on this site. Very strange.

First with Yahtzee slaging off a game i doubt he really played much by the sounds of it, and now this. But then, that might be because i love the God of War series for it's brutal violence and graphics. Call me shallow, but i did enjoy the story.

Maybe i can because i don't feel the need to over-analyse stuff. I played the game, and saw Kratos just go ape and destroy the world. But i rolled with it and very much enjoyed it.

The day i start to analyse everything to the point i can't enjoy anything is the day i'll throw myself off a cliff.
So you agree that ignorance is bliss then?
 

Chunko

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Aug 2, 2009
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Everything said was completely true, but all the same I love God of War II and III and borderline hated God of War I. I feel like while the third God of War game lacked meaning and morals it was artistic in other ways. It was an interesting statement on christianity and the artistic vision was really amazing. I also picked up a few bits of interesting symbolism. I was expecting to be given a choice at the end of God of War III after they put me in first person but whatever.

On the other hand God of War I was definitely the best at storytelling. I almost wanted to stop playing God of War III because of how immature Kratos's emotions were.

EDIT: Also I beat GOW III last night at 3:42 AM.
 

WaysideMaze

The Butcher On Your Back
Apr 25, 2010
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Another great video. I love the GoW games, and really enjoyed the analysis here. And I do agree, standing there, defiantly telling people that everything is great, when there are very obvious short comings does nothing to enhance the games industry. We need to critisize where critisism is due.
 

sageoftruth

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Jan 29, 2010
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Nah, I wasn't really wondering about the reason for the first person view at the end. I knew it certainly wasn't for story purposes. I guess it was pretty much "The Rule of Cool" as TV Tropes puts it, which confirms what you said about the direction priorities took in the 3rd game.