Kratos' tragedy is that of dehumanizing discipline to achieve the vain glory of ultimate conquest, of fruitless strength.
I wouldn't consider God of War's drama to be particularly lucid, as it largely exists to rationalize the player's advancement in the scenarios (as is the case of so many other triple A games, to dichotomize "story" and "gameplay" in the relationship between cinematics and "the actual game", as if gameplay wasn't inherently narrative in the actions we partake in when interpreting a character) and gets too stuck for much of it in the voyage for the McGuffin that is Pandora's Box. However, I can't deny that there's something intriguing in its contradiction.
A game about the pleasure of ultra-violence and the dominance over all beings that questions our involvement in how all the expulsion of id results trivial. Merits without satisfaction, as the demonic phantasms of the past persevere. A mortal accepting the throne of a God, yet he is still condemned to be haunted by his actions; what has been done can't be borrowed, no matter how hard one fights against the divine. Kratos "wins", yet what is his worth? A solitary palace to rejoice on his emptiness? A revenge bringing no more than dissatisfaction in ostentatious dresses?
Its immediate sequels (II & III) would miss this appeal, either from the ridicule reaching an excess that it no longer can have any human grounding (this entry is absurd though, let that be clear), or from the epic centering even more scarcely in the psychological complex, making its delving to such unearned. Yet this one still holds weight in the progression of the flashbacks, each taking us closer to the painful truth, and its understanding of the Greek tragedy being personalized to the protagonist's vices; the tale functioning in pedagogical terms due to how the punishments of the Gods feature a cautionary lesson; the inevitability of the conclusion as all has been precedingly rigged (and how the flashbacks here play a role in realizing this dynamic).
Some gets lost in translation due to how troubling is to pull off its contradiction, of being satisfying while enjoying a sense of banality and transmitting it in terms of interaction with systems. Nonetheless, it remains interesting and surprisingly well designed to evade monotony in our player disposition. It takes some time to get truly engaging with the challenges, yet everything involving, for example, the three stages of the finale I found immensely gratifying in how it forces genuine attention for the enemy patterns and a pragmatic usage of our special abilities. Definitely better than the sordidness of God of War III.
I wouldn't consider God of War's drama to be particularly lucid, as it largely exists to rationalize the player's advancement in the scenarios (as is the case of so many other triple A games, to dichotomize "story" and "gameplay" in the relationship between cinematics and "the actual game", as if gameplay wasn't inherently narrative in the actions we partake in when interpreting a character) and gets too stuck for much of it in the voyage for the McGuffin that is Pandora's Box. However, I can't deny that there's something intriguing in its contradiction.
A game about the pleasure of ultra-violence and the dominance over all beings that questions our involvement in how all the expulsion of id results trivial. Merits without satisfaction, as the demonic phantasms of the past persevere. A mortal accepting the throne of a God, yet he is still condemned to be haunted by his actions; what has been done can't be borrowed, no matter how hard one fights against the divine. Kratos "wins", yet what is his worth? A solitary palace to rejoice on his emptiness? A revenge bringing no more than dissatisfaction in ostentatious dresses?
Its immediate sequels (II & III) would miss this appeal, either from the ridicule reaching an excess that it no longer can have any human grounding (this entry is absurd though, let that be clear), or from the epic centering even more scarcely in the psychological complex, making its delving to such unearned. Yet this one still holds weight in the progression of the flashbacks, each taking us closer to the painful truth, and its understanding of the Greek tragedy being personalized to the protagonist's vices; the tale functioning in pedagogical terms due to how the punishments of the Gods feature a cautionary lesson; the inevitability of the conclusion as all has been precedingly rigged (and how the flashbacks here play a role in realizing this dynamic).
Some gets lost in translation due to how troubling is to pull off its contradiction, of being satisfying while enjoying a sense of banality and transmitting it in terms of interaction with systems. Nonetheless, it remains interesting and surprisingly well designed to evade monotony in our player disposition. It takes some time to get truly engaging with the challenges, yet everything involving, for example, the three stages of the finale I found immensely gratifying in how it forces genuine attention for the enemy patterns and a pragmatic usage of our special abilities. Definitely better than the sordidness of God of War III.
gardensinheaven
2 years ago