this post was submitted on 18 Dec 2023
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Despite being nominated for numerous awards and even winning Game of the Year in 2018, the creator of God of War, David Jaffe, is not a huge fan of the new direction the series has gone in. Jaffe himself hasn't worked on these new God of War games, but thinks that they're not staying true to the spirit of the character and the franchise. The creator noted that if developers want to pour their life experiences into their work, they should do it with new IPs and characters.

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[–] [email protected] 134 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (3 children)

It may not be the work he wanted, but it was a positive direction. I know nothing about his other works, but new-kratos is a much expanded character and successful continuation on the original work. Not a hamfisted cash-in like so many sequelizations do.

[–] [email protected] 64 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Honestly seeing kratos grow up is what makes the new games that much more impactful. The series when taken as a whole just really makes kratos’s character that much better. Imagine 2018 GoW without the original trilogy, it would not be nearly as close to perfect of a game as it was

[–] [email protected] 47 points 11 months ago

The original Kratos was basically one big long revenge story. Almost all of it justified and satisfying, but basically wiping out the Greek Pantheon was his ultimate goal.

His actions were reckless and fury driven, but often went over the top, both in violence and in actions.

My favourite example is from GoW: Ragnarok, when certain characters are reflecting on Kratos’ past, and how the one story of him killing the Sisters of Fate must truly be myth, then he corrects them saying it was true and how they deserved it. The third character then shines a present light on the fact that he did that in the past and says, “that’s the most dangerous and irresponsible thing I’ve ever heard.”

I think that sums up Greek Kratos in a nutshell.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago

his other works include twisted metal and drawn to death.

not bad games, but also not games known for their ahem quality storytelling.

[–] [email protected] 112 points 11 months ago (12 children)

the Original God of War Kratos had all the depth of a puddle.

nuKratos is by far the superior character.

[–] [email protected] 67 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Modern Kratos wouldn't be nearly as impactful or enthralling if we didn't intimately know his past and what he is capable of. Replacing him with another character who acts identical and had a similar background revealed in flashbacks would just undercut how Kratos acts now.

We see him show restraint his younger self was incapable of, and how when hes holding back, its not for his benefit, but for those who are antagonizing him and his friends. HE knows he is a monster, doesn't view himself as redeemable in the slightest, but has no intention of returing to his old ways while he has the ability to help those he's come to care for, and also show his son a better a path than the one laid out for him.

So while yes, ps2/ps3 kratos had all the depth and bredth of a puddle, modern Kratos is built entirely off that puddle and wouldn't hold its own weight without the previous foundations.

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 11 months ago (3 children)

There were innumerable opportunities for kratos to develop character beyond raging angry guy of rancorous fury. Every betrayal and every reconciliation was so bland after a while. The originals were one long soap opera.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago (9 children)

Meh. Not everything need to be deep. It’s a video games. Nobody is asking what the DOOM character backstory is. He’s there to shoot some hellspawns and that’s fun.

There’s a place for both, really.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 11 months ago (1 children)

My friend, you're missing out on the batshit insane lore of DOOM Eternal. The game itself is amazing, but the lore is even better!

[–] [email protected] 15 points 11 months ago (2 children)

My favorite part of the lore is how doom guy doesn't give a shit about the lore.

Not every franchise needs to be deep, and doom eternal kind of suffers for being more story focused.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago

Really? I enjoy the lore very much, but it seems more than easy enough to ignore - most is told through collectibles, so you can just breeze through everything without reading pretty much anything.

Not every franchise needs to be deep

I kind of disagree - I like it when a lot of thought has been put into things. I'd rather have it available and be able to ignore it than not have it available at all.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 months ago (1 children)

There’s a place for both, really.

Sure, but when someone whines "Why did they give this character depth? They could have made them shallow and boring!" I'm not going to give that person much credit.

Also, DOOM guy does have some backstory for those that care to look for it in the games. Easily ignored for those that don't.

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[–] [email protected] 49 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I understand Jaffe not being happy that the games are going in a different direction than he imagined, but he's also the guy who thought Drawn to Death needed to be made.

[–] [email protected] 48 points 11 months ago (2 children)

David Jaffe is a fucking idiot whose opinion doesn't matter anymore.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 11 months ago (10 children)

David Jaffe is unhappy that his generic revenge puddle of spit character has actually grown in depth and is truly interesting now.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago

Instead of just "man literally too angry to die."

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[–] [email protected] 36 points 11 months ago (4 children)

As someone who has played from the beginning, and seen the entire storyline unfold through the multiple directors, I was so disappointed......in nothing absolutely at all whatsoever about the new games.

I thought it was really cool how they stitched the story back to GoW3 and developed the new character so thoughtfully. Christopher Judge seemed to take the character much further while adding depth, and being thoughtful too.

If Jaffe doesn't like that Kratos isn't a mindless rage machine, different strokes I guess. He's definitely in the minority and I think every subsequent game director did an overall better job than he did in GoW 1. *shrug

[–] [email protected] 17 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Parts of 2018 and Ragnarok and the ending of both actually had me tear up a bit, not many games accomplish that. It was very heartfelt and emotional I enjoyed seeing a proper character arc for Kratos and his kid and watching them develop.

I also really liked the themes of redemption and trying to be better not just for yourself, but for the people around you, I liked that Kratos has to reflect on his actions and actually come to terms with how he was for all intents and purposes, a monster.

I liked that even enemies where made more complex and given good character arcs. 2018 and Ragnarok are so well done and I love them. The old GoW trilogy was also fun and had good writing in it's own merit and direction, but the new games are something else entirely in a good way and I vastly prefer the character and relationship focused writing in the newer games.

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[–] [email protected] 34 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (10 children)

Well he can fuck right off, God of War 2018 was amazing

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[–] [email protected] 31 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Something about the new games that really bothered me was how it handled puzzle rooms. You'd walk into a room and start to look around then your kid would yell out "hey I think we should shoot that target up there which should knock down this bridge for us". Golly thanks, guess I won't get to attempt to figure things out myself then. I pretty much fell off about 10 hours into the first one because I found that so frustrating. Does that go away after a while?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago

Not from what I've read elsewhere.

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[–] altima_neo 26 points 11 months ago (3 children)

David Jaffe is kind of a nut these days though. Like what has he done in recent years?

[–] [email protected] 38 points 11 months ago (7 children)

The last thing I saw regarding him was him being unable to comprehend how secret rooms in Metroid work. It was painful.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 11 months ago

Jesus. Kudos to that video editor stitching videos of other people doing it.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 11 months ago

Hahahahah. Thank you for this.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago

Brutal. He's so wrong and he has no idea.

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I kinda wish the article has expanded on what he said, if anything. Does he still think they are well made games even if he doesn't like the direction?

Like, I don't like the new Zelda games, I don't think they have stayed true to the original Zelda (not you Zelda II) games. That said, I cannot deny that a lot of care and polish went into them, I just don't like the direction.

Sure, the new God of War games are not the original avatar-of-rage Kratos but they are still exceptional games.

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 11 months ago (2 children)

The year before GoW 2018, he released Drawn to Death… PS Plus release that had some cool style but otherwise crap game! He was relevant back in the late 90s and early 2000s… but now his opinion hardly matters and he’s a bit of a drama queen. I don’t really give a shit what he thinks.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 11 months ago

I'm pretty sure this is less about the quality of the game and more about ppl working on his creation without him. You can see this a lot in comic books

Creators will be pissed that ownership has continued work on something they created without them.

Pretty much why Allen Moore hates comics so much. Or even why John McAfee hated his anti virus program.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I mean, I too would be unhappy with the new games' stories. They're not very good stories overall.

But, they're better than the vast majority of video game plots, because that's a low bar.

Still, Jaffe seems to imply the old stories in GoW were any better, when they were pure drivel. I might still be very underwhelmed by the story in the two new God of War's, but I at least like that they're trying (even if I think the direction of relying heavily on animation and visual flair is the wrong one, as far as telling good stories goes).

[–] [email protected] 12 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Jaffe always struck me as a perpetual adolescent. The two GoW games he worked on were great for the time, but the stories were shallow excuses to showcase as much gore as possible. His other big property, Twisted Metal, was genre-defining gameplay but any narrative was just edgelord violence and/or crass humor.

The last "big" project I remember coming down the pipe from him was Drawn to Death, which took his signature juvenile tastes and combined them with horrible gameplay and eye-blistering art direction. As far as I'm aware, he hasn't worked on a game since.

I'm not saying the new GoW games are perfect, but I wouldn't say Jaffe has a trusted critical eye.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago

Oh, so he never matured at all then, huh?

[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago

I played about 3 hours of 2018, and my honest opinion is that the story was kind of interesting, but the gameplay was slow and clunky. The most fun I had with my time was the fight in the beginning with Baldur, and most of it was a cutscene. I prefer the gameplay and fluidity of combat in the original trilogy, which I have beaten, to this new version. With that being said, it's still a good game, just not my cup of tea.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 months ago

Could the author have packed any more bias into the article? Like, we get it. You like the new games.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago

His tone, the way he mocks other creators, comes off as (for lack of a better term) developmentally stunted. I understand if you disagree with the product because your vision is different, but the way he expresses it is so reductive that it's hard to see his points as valid beyond his feelings.

With that being said, It's been awhile since I've seen David Jaffe and he's kinda got a "We've got Dan Harmon at home" vibe about him now.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago

Went and watched the original.

Seems like he just doesn't like the direction and it's a 'different strokes for different folks' kind of thing. I think his point about Ragnarok is fair, the writing is a bit all over the place and that can make characterization suffer.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago (4 children)

Welp. I don't know what to say other than he's the creator and he's completely wrong.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago

meh. I played the first and second I think. I can't believe its still going. Its a pretty limited story to think of as a franchise.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago
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