I also fully expect the kid to be the main reason of Kratos going berserk again in the new game.

@gaff: I'm thinking Kratos is opening act, gets killed and the kid wants revenge on Norse mythology. Boom.

Wasn't that special ability he used on the troll/giant called "Spartan Rage"? Not really confirming anything there, but judging by the tone of this game and the character, it seems like Kratos has moved there to get away from the destruction of Greece and tried starting a new life.

You see it's a spartan rage. It's a very minimalist, refined anger as Kratos has become fully engrossed in a spartan lifestyle. He's going to start making simple elegant wood furniture with clean lines and easy assembly. Kratos isn't in Norway, he's in Sweden. He went to Scandinavia to found Ikea.

What if this is the new MGS2 and actually Kratos dies after the intro and you just play as the kid for the rest of the game and it's full of flashbacks of moments with your shitty dad?

Sounds like him. Sounds like he's actually talking instead of yelling or speaking forcefully, which is what Kratos always did. It also sounds like they directed him to give Kratos some wear & tear; a more somber take in contrast to the flying fury he always was.

Does it really matter?

I think the real question is will there be a sex QTE or has the series finally outgrown that?

Some thoughts on Dan's stream question about when "vikings were".

There is already a weird connection between Norse mythology and the ancient Greeks. One of the main sources for our conception of the norse paganism is Snorri Sturlson's Prose Edda, composed in 13th century Iceland, which among other things contains a narrative of norse mythology that hypothesizes that the Germanic gods were ancient warrior kings who were deified by their followers after their deaths. In Snorri's history, Odin was a descendent of King Priam of Troy who fled Asia Minor when it was being ravaged by Pompey Magnus, travelled north to Scandinavia and founded several kingdoms.

"Norse mythology" as its commonly understood is honestly a pretty weird rendition of a lot of historic/legendary folk stories created by Icelandic peoples centuries after their subjects (and also centuries after there was any "viking" going on). For example the Saga of the Volsungs (another 13th century icelandic rendition), which gives us the story of Sigurd, Brunhilda, and the Dragon, is a poetic rendition of the destruction of the Burgundian kingdom by Attila the Hun (who appears in the story as King Atli) in 437AD. The viking age was 8-11th century. There is a monumental amount of cultural time and space that went into creating these stories - which are not the stories of the burgundians or other germanic peoples from the migration period europe, nor are they exactly the stories of the vikings. They are largely folk tales and legendary/historical geneologies of the christian inhabitants of Iceland who were grappling with a reconciliation of their pagan warrior ancestry and their modern christian society.

I doubt any of this will be in the game. It will a pretty straight faced depiction of Norse gods, devoid of any historical context or subtext.

I remember that. I do not consider it an acceptable explanation.

I voted that it was a new Kratos, but reading the thread I see now it's confirmed to be the same Kratos. I also rewatch the trailer in HD and you can clearly see that old stomach scar. I actually like this idea, it's the same shitty old dude but now that he has no remaining object for his vengeance he's moved up north and started a family. He's (probably) lost his wife/mother-of-their-child and has to struggle with that old rage burning inside of him while raising their boy as a single parent. Very interesting dynamic they're working in there.

I seriously thought the only way I would enjoy a new God of War game starting the same old Kratos was if they went full stupid to the point where it's basically a comedy and Kratos plays the straight man, but this is way better. At least a semi-open world, more interesting and deliberate combat, deeper systems hinted at with those knowledge gained prompts, and a story that actually seems to have a lot of heart. I'm 100% in. Also interesting to see Cory Barlog (director of GoW2) is leading the project. I thought everything about GoW2 (besides the story compared to the first game) was by far the best of the series.

There's a video earlier in this here thread that features the developers confirming that it is indeed Kratos, and that we will find out what it is that brought him up to Norse lands. So, heeeeey, there we go, guys.

Also, the developer claims that you'll play as Kratos for the entire game. I ain't sure whether that's true, personally, as if you look at the XP notifications, you only receive it for tasks that feature the boy. You get XP for teaching him how to track, how to shoot the bow, etc. It literally says "knowledge gained: tracking, knowledge gained: archery", and so on. But we'll have to wait and see in that regard. Now, I do believe we'll be playing as Kratos mainly due to the line at the very end of the gameplay segment they showed, "a new beginning". That smells to me as if it's going to be a tale of not necessarily redemption, but a chance for Kratos to reclaim what it was that initially drove him, family. Wouldn't surprise me if there's a part later on where you play as the boy, though, as it were with Ellie in The Last of Us.

One way or another, this game looks terrific. That said, Imma' head over to the "Death Stranding" sub-forum, because if there's a game needs theorizing about, it's that one. In my humble opinion.

Well, we might not know; but sure, lets fight about it with total conviction of our beliefs....ah video games.

I'm not sure if anyone else has said this but you can see the scar on Kratos' stomach. That is the one from the other games.

It's the same Kratos alright, just that he has a beard...oh and he's also voiced by Teal'c now.

Blast from the friggin past.

Same Kratos, we just didn't expect it to be a world where ALL mythologies are true.

Not sold on that being his son, though it makes sense he'd have a bunch of bastards out and about. The more measured tone they seem to be going for has me super excited for how they might handle weaving the Norse pantheon into the narrative.

It's the same Kratos, the Creative Director confirmed it over at IGN.

ha probably, isn't this part of Jaffe's original vision? That he would go kill the Norse Gods, then maybe something like the Egyptian Ones etc etc?

http://kotaku.com/5526898/god-of-war-creators-had-different-ideas-on-trilogys-ending-update

"What David Jaffe talked about doing was — and I'm not sure how it would happen — basically, you destroy Greek mythology and then Norse mythology is right around the corner", Asmussen told GamePro. "That's the next thing that Kratos would go after. It becomes clear at the end that he's going to become this harbinger of death across different mythologies in the world and maybe carry the series on from there."

He even has the scar in his abdomen from the sword.

There's a mysterious shrouded figure watching Kratos and his son as well. You can see it watching him and then running away. There's a bunch of pictures in this thread here.

What do the numbers mean Kratos!!

so after he kills every Norse God, he kills the Boy and then goes to Egypt and then has another boy and that's the new Kratos Cycle. It's identical to Sonic Cycle right down with new gamers journalism crying over the something that doesn't stop people from buying the series.

I honestly have no idea but I really wish the first option is true.

#shittydadsimulator

If he remarried (?) and had a kid, why does he still have the ashes of his dead wife and kids on his body?

How can Kratos be in this game? He stabbed himself with Zeus's sword. The sword that's supposedly the only thing that can kill Gods and Titans? The sword which also killed Zeus and Gaia in one strike?

Did they retcon the ending of 3? They shouldn't cheapen the ending of 3 like that...

@white:You never see him die, and then again, Death has never stopped Kratos before.

They said that God of War is going to be what its like when an immortal god settles down. Whether he is actually immortal or not, I don't know, but the dude did survive his own suicide, so I guess that kinda answers that.

One thing that I find weird, maybe you guys will too, is that Kratos just straight up moved to Scandinavia. Like, I always imagined the world of God of War not to be historic but rather based in some God Realm. But to find out that the GOW franchise has just straight up be set in one location means that, yes, while the other games were happening, the Norse gods were chilling and doing their shit too, as well as the rest of the God filled world. So when all of the gods in Greece died were exterminated, Kratos bounced to Scandinavia and settled down there, thus the new GOW game.

Interesting but I don't think this was the original idea under any means. David Jaffe said that one of the plans they had was, when Kratos killed Zeus, a portal would have opened up and bringing him into another realm. But here, in the new game, they shared the world with other gods the whole time.

Makes me wonder if we will see any sort of a clash with multiple other mythologies in this game as well, or if it's strictly Norse.

@spoonman671: Sorry, I misread your comment as a "didn't he die?" inquiry instead of a "how?" As for how... no idea. Hopefully their explanation, assuming there is one, won't be terrible. The older games probably would've introduced some cheap deus ex machina to bring him back, but the newer game looks a little less dunderheaded in terms of writing so far so I'm cautiously optimistic they'll deliver.

We welcome you with open arms Kratos! (please don't kill me...)

@rafaelfc: The ashes wasn't a choice. He was cursed, the ashed "burned" into him. And it's iconic for his look.

I like the idea that after the third game and killing Zeus that Kratos found peace. Isn't Kratos an immortal demigod or something? It's like he's been chilling out until he is forced into a situation where he must kill Norse Gods. Yeah it's silly but I like it better than Kratos being some spirit of God killing vengeance that is called upon to exact revenge.

@bartok:From what I've heard on the podcast and at the press conference, I don't think he's found peace yet. I think this game is going to show him trying to find peace and not be such an angry fuck as he was in the Greek pantheon games.

I'm really pumped for what Santa Monica is going to do, I have a good feeling about their storytelling evolving. But I could be completely wrong and it could just turn out to be like @avantegardenersaid: "#shittydadsimulator"

Not sure why everyone is super surprised by Kratos being alive, I mean, it's not like this is a guy who has crawled out of the depths of hell on multiple occasions, right? As far as immortal and unkillable goes, Kratos fits the bill pretty handily. Besides, he's pretty tough given that he's a demigod, so I doubt we'll get a coherent explanation other than the fact that he's fucking Kratos.

I knew he was the same Kratos from the get-go. I'm surprised anyone would think he's different honestly. That said, I suspected it was the same voice actor, only with a slight change in tone to fit the character they wanted, but I was wrong there.

Why do people keep saying the game takes place in Norway? Has anyone from the dev team actually said it is in Norway? Norse mythology =/= Norwegian mythology.