God of War Has Made A Point | Whether You Like It Or Not | Sony Didn't Do Their Thing

God of War Has Made A Point | Whether You Like It Or Not | Sony Didn't Do Their Thing 

Sony isn't running the race with its competitors it's sitting at the finish line with a cup of water in hand waiting for another racer to come across the line so they can get their medal and go home God of War is not a workable jected perfection nothing is some people are going to sit down play through at the experience and walk away unimpressed some players don't enjoy action games some players would rather bypass story and some are going to herald it as the second coming or whatever to bind being they await but what cannot be said about God of War is that it doesn't do anything interesting or better yet and it doesn't have a message to send to the gaming industry it most certainly does battle war is more than the review scores that have been splashing across I phone screens and laptops over the past week God of War is a martyr sent out select gamers in the industry know that the very things many of them believe simply are true today we examine what those things are it almost seems like gaming in 2018 didn't start picking up steam and so God of War talks started this game was embargoed into a date that was unusual 10 almost 10 days before the game's release the review embargo went up and there were these reviews flying me and talked flooding and spoilers flooding in and it was a lot a lot of hype a lot of 10 out of tens a lot of perfect scores but today we're going to talk about why God abour exists in that spectrum.

But more than that this isn't just about quality this is about what God abour has to say what God of War has to say to the gaming industry to gamers that today we're going to talk about those messages within the spectrum of that hype so to get started we have to take a look at the context in which God of War 2018 was actually created and how it was approved just because something works doesn't mean it's complete just because something is good doesn't mean it can't be better over the course of two generations Kratos slaughtered his way through Greek mythology and on to the PlayStation 2 PlayStation 3 and PSP it was a mythological star a hack-and-slash icon defined by monolithic battles and bloody combos but by the time the final entry rolled around God of war ascension Sony Santa Monica had reached a plateau with a series it was clear that Kratos either needs to evolve or disappear the response to ascension was as Santa Monica describes it lackluster at best and Sony made the decision that it was time to put the franchise to bed at least for the time being so much so that when the team approached Sony with the idea of a reboot it took an incredible amount of convincing for Sony to acquiesce and allow the project to get underway this was not a project Sony was immediately sold on in 2014.

the first talk of this project the new God of War game began creative director Cory Balrog offered confirmation in 2014 that they were in the very early stages of development on what he said may be a full reboot of the series that game became known as God of War no subtitle no numerical value attached because this game was to be a total and complete reimagining of the franchise they wanted the game to be entirely new but carry with it the same realities that they believed made the previous entries so successful accessibility of combat a straightforward narrative experience in a game that was as beautiful and epic as anything else running on the PlayStation family of systems which at this point have been diluted to a single system in the ps4 in 2018 that game launched with every bit of Sony Santa Monica's heart and passion for this franchise on its asleep and immediately one thing became very clear to anyone that picked up and played the game for more than 30 minutes conversation about games and other medium is simply entirely off-base all right let's see what you got Fox oh I bet that just sea monster oh that's not the movie that's yeah I think I heard him the moment that we cry in a film is not what things are sad but when they turn out to be more beautiful than we expect them to be nothing encapsulate the journey of 2018 s God of War better than this quote from Elaine de Bataan about an entirely different medium we've all heard it a thousand times in some way or another gaming simply isn't a medium that has the ability to tell the stories that filmed us games are controlled by a player when certain controls are pacing thus diluting any attempt at a cohesive narrative or even simpler no one cares about stories and games anymore God of War spits in the face of every single one of those statements and writes an entirely new one all by itself gaining affords players the opportunities to experience and immerse themselves in narratives that films could only dream of offering God of War is incredibly unique in this way a game is a movie that you get to control the entire game is created to be a single continuous shop much like Oscar darling Birdman that means there's no cuts in actions no prospects no black screens it starts and it ends without ever taking a break but if it's between God of War and Birdman one is two hours in the other ten times that way the planning the meticulous nature of the story building required to bring this to fruition is an incredible feat of creative decision-making and player understanding the effect is not just a marketing move it provides a level of immersion that is unlike anything else in gaming which is supplemented with characters and a father and son coming-of-age tale that is masterfully told active and pasted all things we don't normally associate with gaming God of War will piss you off it will make you smile it will feel relatable it will leave you with tears rolling down your face and will do all of this almost effortless it does all of this with or without the controller in your hand it does all of this through great storyteller the more we cry in a film is not one things are sad when they turn out to be more beautiful than we expect them to be that is God of War and emotionally gripping and beautiful ride driven by a character who is once known as nothing more than a OneNote placeholder but there are other gaming taboos if the game doesn't shy away from it one is the taboo everyone hates I see potential in you let me be your jack roush let me be your mentor no thank you that is unfortunate if you were to poll gamers that have played games beyond just this current generation about what the most annoying things to do in games were it is almost a guarantee that the results would be heavily skewed in the direction of one type of mission structure the escort mission the scourge of all of gaming gamers have been conditioned to absolutely despise escort missions because they are almost exclusively terrible that's why when the Last of Us launched just a few years back there was a lot of concern over le in what her role within the game would be god of war follows a nearly identical structure to the Last of Us the game is quite literally one giant escort mission from beginning to end this is both a good and bad thing we'll obviously get to why for the result in totality is a showing that proves and escort missions can actually be enjoyable hell like last of us they can be a whole damn game Kratos and his son trek through Norse mythology with reckless abandon as you go through the game Sony Santa Monica flexes their game design muscles with how they approach a boy who could be a huge burden on the player if not handled correctly a good news is you almost literally never have to worry about him in fact instead of being a burden Kratos the Sun axe has more of an expanded repertoire for Kratos and combat his existence furthers the gameplay in meaningful ways you don't the babysit him he will automatically fire off arrows distract enemies jump on their backs and keep himself safe the distraction tools work he possesses some interesting abilities that I will avoid spoiling here and most importantly he will not permanently die on you he merely faints waiting to be revived after the encounter he serves a narrative purpose and a storytelling purpose almost exclusively but Santa Monica made sure that he never burden slowed or took away from the player in gameplay his as systems are well designed he generally does what makes the most sense for him to do and he's a usable companion it's really all it takes to spruce off the escort reality in a game good game an AI design and got aboard proves that not only is it a reasonable design decision to build around the structure but it can pay off huge when done well and now we hit was maybe the most important takeaway from the game and it's also the most obvious this is gonna blow you guys away grandpa oh my god somebody call an ambulance Louis maybe you better call two ambulances Beverly is a funny favorite us sometimes we hear something meant to elicit an emotional response exaggeration so often single player is dead multiplayer games of the future it doesn't make sense to develop single-player only games these are those very kinds of statements God of War builds in incredible and engaging semi open-world it's stunning it's always worth exploring and doing so often rewards you with mini-bosses and scenery that would make film students shudder the combat in the game is frenetic it has a very special and satisfying weight to it and it's nuanced in ways that make every encounter feel just challenging enough while also providing the player room to become more skilled it's tight its responsive it is fun it as a son keeps you company throughout the journey making you as a player feel as though you're going on this venture with someone else you never feel alone points of bringing up those systems in this disjointed in list fashion these systems are rewarding and important elements of God of War there is not a single second of this lengthy adventure where you'll sit there and ask yourself why you can't play this with someone else and why there is no multiplayer mode included there is not a single moment where you would be able to reasonably wonder whether or not this package feels complete as a single-player only experience god of war is just that a single-player adventure through and through and it's all the better for words it's a statement a statement Sony seems content to continue to make over and over again semi linear single-player games aren't just a good investment they aren't just a live single-player games can thrive and people still very much want them people often forget that adding multiplayer modes to games like God Awards games like Last of Us take resources away from the actual meat of the package as well as development time while Last of Us succeeded regardless of that reality it had a wonderful multiplayer package to boot not every game needs a single-player only triple-a experiences are going to get to the come they are going to continue to exist and will continue to sell even if Sony is the only one carrying that flag and finally we hit the message that it's clear the developers most wanted to send with God science to whomever okay what it's whoever not whomever about to member know whomever is never actually right not sometimes right Michael is right it's a made-up word used to trick students know the first for console entries and the God of War franchise were all about action the story was there and it was fine but these games of the people have played them were much more focused on what happened between cutscenes the Chains of Olympus the Titans the gods the battles that took place on the summit of Mount Olympus it was all about what happened when it came time to start pressing buttons Kratos was a blank slate and angry sometimes ironically passive-aggressive character who saw nothing but blood and spoke of nothing but beastie god of war 2018 is about the pain of losing some and finally coming to terms of man the quest is to conquer the emotion to take over in these trying times it's about being a single father it's about teaching your son are to survive in a cool world it's about the struggle of building the bond between father and son oh yeah and sometimes you kill things and fight trolls the juxtaposition between what God of War is and was is nothing if not startling god of war is a clear and concise message to gamers and developers you can reinvent your franchise in meaningful ways even if it's not at all what gamers think they want rather the wild is interesting because in reality it's simply a huge evolution of what zelda already is it's much more palatable to old-school fans of the series then a complete reinvention of the game would have been god of war on the other hand as Corey Balrog put it is a complete way of imagining it is nearly unidentifiable outside of its namesake character from what the series has always been and gamers are notoriously fickle and simultaneously stubborn a weird combination that sees huge backlash from developers trying to reinvent their franchise and try new things while also creating a similar backlash whenever developers give them more of the same it's why Call of Duty has been the same Call of Duty for over a decade with only small changes that usually end up disappearing a year or two later as the games revert right back to the very place they started it took a lot of bravery from this studio to come out with a God of War that looks and plays the way this game does and it very well may pave the way for franchises like Killzone and resistance to take similar overhauled approaches as well people change games should too God of War is a game that without a doubt subverted the expectations of essentially every single human being that played a previous entry in the series this kind of war is not the kind of or gaming new and it's certainly not the God of War that anybody expected it is an incredible ride one that rivals any game that is hit store shelves over the past few years and a game that from this writers subjective perspective is worthy of nearly all the praise that it's currently waiting through Kratos is back to being an icon in gaming back to being a true force to be reckoned with Anik hero who's tired Act has been reinvigorated in a litany of meaningful ways but what ends up being more important than the game sheer brilliance is how it manages to bypass or all-out stomp on many of the preconceived notions that spread across gaming like a wildfire Sony Santa Monica was not afraid of doing things differently they were not afraid of taking genuine risks with a known quantity in Sony's decisions to allow them to do so should be universally recognized games can be anything if you have an idea if you have the tools if you have the passion make something make your game design your game even if it's odd even if it flies in the face of trends even if it isn't what people are asking for rules are meant to be broken so break them you don't have to be a god to take a risk well guys that is it for today's docket is always sort of a dialogue what do you think of the God of War franchise is shipped what do you think of God of War 2018 what do you think of what you've seen of it and if you've played it what do you think of what you've played maybe more importantly actually definitely more importantly what do you think of the state of single-player games what do you think of the state of scene of linear single-player games do you think that there's a place for them still do you think that God of War will carve a path for them or do you think that places like Nintendo first-party and Sony first-party are gonna be the only people that keep this going or they're still gonna be third party linear single-player games or is that over Mehmet in the answers analyst questions down in the comments below let's have a real conversation.