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[RickVoid]

I hope Kornel will forgive me for this topic, and I am aware that this community is more PC oriented than Console, but I am just too excited to keep to myself one of the greatest PS2 games produced to date.

I am speaking, of course, of God of War II.

I have always been a big fan of Greek Mythology. When the first game was released, the little geek in me went crazy with "ZOMG I remember that character!" while the hardcore gamer in me was more than sated by the bloodlust of your player character, Kratos.

I am aware that not everybody on here will have played either of these games, so for the moment I'm going to avoid posting spoilers. (As much as it kills me to do so. The plot is just too good not to discuss.) What I'd like to do is see if anybody else has played this or the first one, and then start a discussion going. Maybe it can even help out people who have played the games, but don't know enough about mythology to really "get" it.

And if it inspires Kornel to create a rougelike based mainly upon Greece, Sparta, and Greek Mythology in general, so much the better! :superbigsmiliehere:

[BDR]

I hate you.  I only have the first, and I haven't finished it yet. ;_;

[RickVoid]

I've gotten all the way to the very last fight with Ares on Spartan Mode in the first game.

Of course, because the difficulty is so insane by that point, IO have yet to beat him on that setting.

BTW, the ending of the first game does not dissapoint.

(Edit) Okay, I'm going to add more now because I feel like typing. In my opinion, this game is one of the best examples of storytelling I've seen in a video game since the end of the Legacy of Kain series. Also, it feels like you are in an ancient greek epic poem, like the story could have been a part of the real mythology.
Also, the chain blades. In any other title, your weapon would be simply that; your weapon. But the developers took it several steps further. They're not just his weapons, they are physical ties to his master Ares. While having weapon the can be taken from you seems like a great idea, it is a constant reminder to Kratos of his dept and slavery to Ares, in the same manner that the ashes of his family, permanently bonded to his flesh, are a reminder of what was taken from him, what his quest for power truly cost him. It takes a character that is just an absolute monster, a person that you can't help but despise for what he is, and then show him as this deeply wounded character, who hates himself just as much as anybody else.
Whew. :)

[BDR]

I finally beat the first game on Normal/Hero. :D

Ares really is a bitch to fight in the third battle, but there seem to be two main strategies.

1. Chip him, then run away like a girl before he ass-rapes you.
2. Get into the grab position somehow, win the button mashing contest (and thus beat the crap out of him instead of letting him beat the crap out of you), then either repeat, switch to tactic 1, or just swing away and hope you can hurt him more and faster than he'll be able to hurt you.

I won by swinging away after doing #2.  Somehow I don't think this'll work if I get around to playing God mode.

[RickVoid]

You don't need to beat the game on god mode to unlock everything, contrary to what the extras say. Spartan mode is sufficient.

Of course, as I say that, I have not yet beat Spartan mode myself. Grr. The Ares fight is just insane.

[BDR]

Have you managed to get a throw on him?  Those do a lot of damage (but then, I've no idea what triggers them; it doesn't seem like just pressing O does it).

[RickVoid]

You have to hit him enough times for the circle to appear. Then you can go into the button challenge thing. Then you nail him for a shit load of damage.




Then he bends me over and rapes me up the asshole.

I hate Ares.

[BDR]

I find rolling constantly is the Spartan equivalent of running away like a girl. :P  You definitely have to be careful about where you roll though, or those attacks will destroy you.

[RickVoid]

Yeah, you do have to be really careful.

So, what did you think of the ending? Sad yet somehow fitting, right?

[BDR]

Yes, but now I'd like to try on the second God of War.  I read the back of the box recently and it says Kratos is going to try and change his fate.

[RickVoid]

I just beat it. XD

Kick. Ass.

[n9103]

Mention a word about it, and we'll ass-rape you like Ares was so good at doing!
:P

[Fingerzam]

God of War is on my buying list, but currently my Ninja Gaiden Black addiction is way too strong to play anything else. Maybe I'll get this after I've completed NGB on hard and also completed all 50 missions on at least normal.

[Aerton]

I hadn't played it myself, only seen someone else playing it for twenty minutes.
Clearly, girls are the best thing in the game :P

[RickVoid]

*Casts Resurrect on thread*

I feel like posting a little more about GOW II. Nothing plot specific, but I got some interesting ideas from the first and second games, and I was wondering if anybody else got that feeling.

Here's my questions:
        #1: Is Athena in love with Kratos?
        #2: If so, is Kratos aware of/reciprocate those feelings?
        #3: Is Kratos even capable of love anymore?

I do have a reason for these questions, which I'll reveal after anybody who has an opinion has posted.

[BDR]

Only played the first one, but I'd think if Kratos wasn't capable of love after his wife and kid died, Ares would have needed to use something else to try and break him near the end.  Now, whether Kratos is capable of loving anyone else anymore is a horse of a different color, but I'm pretty sure that the only people who are incapable of learning to love someone else (who is worth loving, obviously) haven't learned to love anybody at all.  Because I've only played the first one, though, I'm not qualified to even speculate on the first two questions.

[RickVoid]

Only played the first one, but I'd think if Kratos wasn't capable of love after his wife and kid died, Ares would have needed to use something else to try and break him near the end.  Now, whether Kratos is capable of loving anyone else anymore is a horse of a different color, but I'm pretty sure that the only people who are incapable of learning to love someone else (who is worth loving, obviously) haven't learned to love anybody at all.  Because I've only played the first one, though, I'm not qualified to even speculate on the first two questions.

Actually, there is a bit in the first game that leads me to think that Athena may love him. For example, as your boat pulls into Athens, Kratos talks to her. She promises him the the Gods will forgive his crimes. He assumes this means he'll be able to forgive himself. She knows that's what he thinks, but she doesn't correct him. Why? Multiple reasons:
1) As a

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

demigod

Kratos is the only one powerful enough to stop Ares from destroying Greece, because the other Gods can't take any action against him without tearing Olympus apart. And 2) My theory, she knows that Kratos has to fight Ares in order to redeem himself, or he'll have nothing to live for, and never take his place with her on Olympus. After he defeats Ares, and discovers that he still is unable to forgive himself, and feels that the gods have abondoned him, he throws himself to his death. But Athena saves him, replaces his lost blades with a pair of her own, and grants him full Godhood as the new God of War.

Why? What does she gain by having Kratos on Olympus?

[BDR]

Hum.  I dunno, I took it at face value (it's not the gods' business to correct the heroic mortal's mistaken assumptions/beliefs, and killing Ares left a void that necessarily had to be filled, though now that I think about it why he wasn't approached immediately after killing Ares is a bit of a puzzler when taking it like this [unless the gods figured he'd know all this, or do it anyway because he'd want to be a god himself, or whatever]).  It'd be different, I suppose, if she weren't communicating mostly through emotionless statues and had more visible signs of love, but she's not, and she doesn't manage that anyway as far as I could see, and it wasn't like they had too many tender moments anyway, so it never crossed my mind.

[RickVoid]

GOW II give us some more reasons to think this, but I promised I wouldn't post any of those here... yet.

However, I thought it was interesting that, after Ares strips Kraots of the Blades of Chaos (and I could write pages about the symbolism of those chains), Athena replaces them with a set of golden chain blades that bear her name. When he had Ares, it seemed to me that he bore them as a sign of his slavery to Ares. Like the chains branded to his arms, he can't get away from it. What on earth could have possesed Athena to offer him something so similar to the symbol of his servitude?

And a better question: Why did Kratos accept them and, indeed, revel in using them? :)

[BDR]

[first part removed and second bit altered due to lack of initial comprehension]

I'm not sure why Athena offered him something like that, but I do have an idea why Kratos might have accepted them; Athena's the goddess of justice/wisdom and by accepting a symbol of servitude from her, it would be a symbol of his triumph over Ares, the mad god that loved war so much he forced Kratos to kill those he loved, and of his change to serving justice (for his fallen wife and child, if nothing else) by killing Ares.

[cnsvnc]

I haven't played either games, but what I remember from mythology is that Athena despises Ares. Their mythological roles are in opposition: Ares is the god of battle, violence, carnage and all around destruction on the battlefield. He's a mass slaughterer. Athena's portfolio includes tactics, strategy, planning and so on; mental side of war. Athena is an intellectual.

She'd love to remove Ares from the pantheon (and all that he stands for from the world) for good.

There could be some sort of metaphor in Kratos' ridding himself of Ares' chains and embracing Athena's weapons.


I REALLY wish GoW is ported to PC though.

[RickVoid]

[first part removed and second bit altered due to lack of initial comprehension]

I'm not sure why Athena offered him something like that, but I do have an idea why Kratos might have accepted them; Athena's the goddess of justice/wisdom and by accepting a symbol of servitude from her, it would be a symbol of his triumph over Ares, the mad god that loved war so much he forced Kratos to kill those he loved, and of his change to serving justice (for his fallen wife and child, if nothing else) by killing Ares.

Ah, but he is not in her service, he's a god himself now. He neither serves nor answers to her anymore. So why would he accept them?

Yes, it is a leading question. :)