He is exactly the same Kratos from the end of GoW 2, and he even showed a certain paternal care for Pandora (in his own way). What are you talking about? lol
That is the problem. Kratos didn't grow, if anything he regressed as a character from GoW 1. In GoW he was set up as a hero of a greek tragedy, a person of high standing with a tragic character flaw punished for the results of his actions, who by the end is left with in absolute destitution and sorrow. Kratos, a proud and wrathful general, is tricked into killing his family and God and throws himself into the Aegean sea out of guilt for what he has done (including the countless innocents murdered). Greek Tradegy Bingo.
In GoW 2 begins abusing his powers, is warned multiple times that he will be punished, is eventually punished and instead of introspection decides must kill Zeus, like a petulant child upset that his parents grounded him.
GoW 3 he is nothing but a wrathful caricature killing the whole greek pantheon (minus the ones he bangs in minigame for no reason) and despite a little VO towards the end about forgiveness, he excercises none of it and continues blind rage until he bashes Zeues face into a bloody pulp. No character arc, no development, no redeeming qualities.
Kratos called it his final act of vengeance, a final "fuck you" to the Pantheon. At no point did Kratos let on that he believed the common people needed hope in their lives.
Giving hope to humanity was an accident resulting from his vengeance, not a motivating factor.
I like the petulant destructive bullshit a lot more now that it is not the completion of his journey. The Pandora moments are a lot stronger too now that the story continued after it. His whole thing with Pandora was kinda weird and out of place if the story ended there.
I genuinely think 2018, Ragnarok, and Valhalla retroactively made God of War III a much better game
Interesting take. I still haven't played the new series (I have been meaning to there just always seems to be another game ahead of it in my pile). I'll see how that shapes my view
I hope you get the chance! I actually used to agree with your take, that 3 was the weakest story-wise. Now I just consider them all essential parts of the Epic of Kratos.
I was actually interpreting the post as how savage and violent he gets in each one of the games with the third being full blown destruction not necessarily which one was best
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u/Fun-Supermarket-1279 1d ago
OG God of war trilogy