There's no denying that the God of War series is a fantastic achievement. In a world of quick-buck sequels we don't often get a series of video games that retains and enhances its quality with each new installment. Even the unplanned entries on the PSP are absolutely worth playing.
In spite of this, there have been some understandable complaints about the motivations of Kratos after the first game. Many consider Kratos to have unreasonably directed all of his rage at the Gods with no real motivation. In many ways, this is true, but sometimes I think we're all being a little hard on Kratos. Today I'm going to discuss my personal feelings on the way the overarching narrative of the series changed with each game. Obviously this will be chock full of spoilers in case you haven't played the series yet. So yeah, spoiler alert.
Let's start with a quick summary of the main events of the first game:
-Kratos is a captain in the Spartan Army.
-On the verge of his defeat, Kratos swears fealty to Ares in desperation and is granted the power to destroy his enemies.
-Ares tricks Kratos into killing his own family in an effort to make him the ultimate warrior.
-Kratos is cursed to bear the ashes of his murdered wife and daughter on his skin, becoming the Ghost of Sparta.
-Kratos, haunted by nightmares of his dead family, must continue to serve the Gods.
-Kratos is offered a chance for revenge and redemption. Since the Gods may not war upon one another, -Kratos must kill Ares. In exchange, he will be "forgiven" for the murder of his family.
-Kratos kills Ares, but is betrayed when it is explained that he is "forgiven" for his family's murder, but his nightmares won't be going anywhere.
-Lost and broken, Kratos casts himself off the highest mountain he can find, hoping to end his suffering.
-He is saved by the Gods and they "reward" him for his service by transforming him into the new God of War.
Now ask yourself, how would you react to the way the Gods have treated you at this point? Instead of the ultimate escape from the constant reminder that you slaughtered your own family, you get to live it as an immortal being for all eternity. Immortality is a curse enough as it is without eternal regret. You also get to live it with the beings who tricked you into their service twice. With all that in mind, I'd probably find any way I could to abuse my power and make the lives of my new fellow Gods as inconvinient as possible. With that, let's look at the events of the second game.
-Shunned by the other Gods, Kratos decides to make war as he sees fit and aides the Spartan army in its battles.
-Kratos is warned that his divine intervention will result in punishment.
-During one such battle, Kratos is somehow drained of his powers and is forced to fight with his own strength.
-After defeating a powerful foe, Zeus reveals that it was he who drained Kratos's power for not serving the Gods properly. He then offeres Kratos one last chance to become a God again.
-Kratos defiantly refuses, and is killed by Zeus.
-Once again not allowed to die, Kratos is rescued by the Titan Gaia. She explains to Kratos that he can change his fate and get revenge on Zeus.
-Kratos travels across the world and kills the sisters of fate, taking their power.
-Kratos travels through time and stops Zeus from killing him.
-Kratos accidentally kills Athena in his attempt to kill Zeus.
-Kratos, angered by grief and lacking purpose, uses his new powers to rescue the Titans from their imprisonment and leads an attack on Olympus.
There's a lot going on here, so let's focus on what happened at the beginning of the game. Kratos is lashing out the way anyone would in his situation. It's pretty clear he didn't want this power, so he decided to get back at his so-called bretheren the only way he could. And the Gods didn't see this coming? I'm pretty much blaming Kratos's behavior on them at this point.
The Gods opened up their own Pandora's Box by letting Kratos become a God after they treated him like a meat-headed lunk they could order around with no repercussions. I have to give the development teams that worked on each game credit for the authentic way the Gods often made various misteps through hubris and without consideration. They're faithful to the source material, minus the transforming into animals and raping helpless women.
I don't feel I need to summarize the third game since most of the events are fresh in our minds. I also don't have much to say about it, since I agree with what's been said. I'm just here to give Kratos a break and hope that we can try to view the events of the second game a little differently now.
No comments:
Post a Comment