God of War, the runaway elephant

While doing research for my God of War series I had a little bit of extra material that didn’t quite fit in with the other chapters. I’d like to share this final bit of concept work that never made it into the finished game, and perhaps give it some context. I’ve mentioned earlier on the blog that the Piraeus Lion was the best sub-boss in the series. There is an entire stage, and sub-plot in the Ghost of Sparta featuring Kratos stalking an escaped prisoner called the Dissenter. The player does this in the underground prison of Sparta. The atmosphere of the stage, level design, mood, and sound effects all lead up to a battle with the gigantic lion. It resonated with me more than any other sub-boss encounter in the franchise. The fact that they didn’t reuse the lion in any other part of the story made it mean more than any battle with a minotaur, or cyclops. I believe that the inspiration for the Piraeus Lion was due to another encounter that was planned in the previous game, the Chains of Olympus.

In the concept art for the game there is a war elephant. It is probably one of the best unused enemy designs in the series. It was so amazing that the studio even created a 3D model, and rendered a few scenes as to where this encounter would have happened. At the start of the game Kratos is with his Spartan army helping the Athenians defend Attica from a Persian invasion. This was an actual encounter from history. It was made fantastic with the inclusion of the Basilisk, an enormous fire-breathing reptile that was unleashed by the Persians. Kratos gives the monster chase, fights on the beach, and makes his way to the city gates. He breaks through the armored door by using a battering ram, and turns the corner. This is where he was supposed to see the war elephant for the first time, and its rider, a Persian King. The high walls of the city gate, and bridge make for a constricted fighting platform. Just as the locked cells in the jails of Sparta raised the stakes for the lion reveal.

In the final version of the game Kratos is on one side of a moat, there is a collapsed bridge between him, and some Persian archers on the opposite side. They are taking shots at the future god of war. Remember during this timeline Kratos hasn’t killed Ares yet. He isn’t at full-power, nor reputation. I like to think that it was the elephant that destroyed this bridge in the finished version of Chains of Olympus. I only wish the studio had placed it at the bottom of the moat to complete the story. Anyhow I think that this encounter highlights the approach that Ready at Dawn had over the pacing of the game when compared to Sony Santa Monica. Up until this point the GoW series followed a familiar template. The games start in the middle of the action. A fight scene teaches the basic controls. These are usually against humans, or human-sized monsters. Then an enormous opponent is introduced. It might be the Hydra, the Colossus of Rhodes, the Scylla, or the Basilisk. The fight against these enormous creatures seems impossible, but is manageable with the strength of Kratos, his indescribable toughness, and the magical Blades of Chaos. The rest of the game is a series of smaller encounters until a mid, or final boss is reached. The games would recycle the same characters again, and again throughout the quest. Sometimes they would be reskinned, were still cool looking, but essentially the same rivals. The lack of unique opponents was something that I would consider the only weakness to the GoW franchise.

Ready at Dawn wanted to break the cycle by introducing sub-bosses that were tailor-made to the game. They weren’t as enormous as the final bosses, but more grounded in reality. We’ve seen Kratos take on mountain-sized opponents, and while those fights are fun, we sometimes forget how amazing he is in close combat. That is why the developers had him take on the kings of the jungle. Fighting supernatural lions, boars, bulls, and serpents are the types of challenges that Hercules, Theseus, Jason, and Perseus conquered in their classic adventures. At the same time the creatures in the Chains of Olympus are more than typical wild animals. The Piraeus Lion is bigger than any horse. It is covered in arrows, and swords, showing that it is impervious to most weapons. While the War Elephant is armored, has blades on his tusks, and is trained to fight. To raise the stakes the encounters are set in a tight space. Ready at Dawn knew that they were delivering something memorable. These fights served the story. They helped develop the character of Kratos, and fleshed out the fantastic world he lived in.

The studio was still able to create a memorable stage despite having to make cuts in the final version of the game. On the back of the Elephant was a Persian King. He undoubtedly taunted Kratos at the gates of Attica, just as he did in the final version. This character was massive. He was as big as Alric, the Barbarian King that almost killed Kratos in God of War, and had returned for a rematch in God of War II. The Persian King was going to be every bit Alric’s equal, and then more. He was on an elephant after all, which was much bigger than a draft horse. He also fought with a gigantic scimitar instead of a hammer, giving him a lethal reach advantage. He could even summon an Efreet, a sort of fire demon to create a burning ring around him. Alric did not gain magical attacks until he was already dead. On his back the Persian carried golden spears. Although he doesn’t use them in the game I have a feeling these would have been his ranged attacks against Kratos. He could have easily struck the Ghost of Sparta from across the stage thanks to his high perch.

The final version of the battle had the Persian taunting some slave girls when Kratos shows up. He says the Spartan is nothing but a messenger for some puny gods. This is of course raises the ire of Kratos. Traditional Persian soldiers surround, and attack him while the king hacks away. It’s a fun battle, and I can almost imagine that the War Elephant would have been a two-part fight. Kratos would have to find a sweet spot to fight on the bridge. If too close then the elephant could have swiped him with his tusks, thrown him to the ground with his trunk, or trampled him with his feet. If Kratos were too far then the king could have rained spears down on him. Once the elephant was defeated then I bet the king would have fallen back, and entered the slave girl room.

While large, and strong the King shares something in common with the Dissenter from Ghost of Sparta. They are both bullies when they think they are winning. Despite talking big they instantly change their tune once Kratos has them beat. The Dissenter called Kratos an impostor, and that Ares was the true god of war while Kratos is getting pounced on by the lion. The King mocks Kratos when they first meet, but then tries to bribe Kratos when he is knocked down. He offers him gold, and women. Kratos turns down the bribe, and then bashes a gold chest over his face. The brutal ending of the king was as satisfying as it was to the Dissenter. I have a feeling that the same person at Ready at Down had scripted both encounters.

If I had any programming, or modeling experience I’d love to restore this battle the way it was originally meant to be seen. Even if just to watch Kratos get thrown around by an elephant for a minute. I’m grateful that the artists shared their work online, and that Sony also posted additional content. So many game studios never publish art books, or share their concept work. It will hopefully inspire future designers to push the boundaries of their own art, and think about how to plot out a game, or story. I’d like to know if there was a concept character, or stage from God of War, or any other game that you wish had made it into production. Let me know in the comments section please. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

Chains of Olympus, exploring a powerful, but tragic ending...

Chains of Olympus was telling the type of story that I had enjoyed in the original God of War. We were given an introduction to Kratos through the action. We learned how the game played through fights, and boss battles, rather than lengthy tutorials. All the while we moved from point to point across the ancient world. We were on a real adventure, and every new development helped push the narrative. The gods required the help of the Spartan once more, only this time things seemed most dire for the entire world.

When we last saw him Kratos had fallen into the underworld while trying to retrieve Helios, the god of the sun.

This was canonically the first time that Kratos had visited Hades.

This version of the afterlife looked much different than the one seen in God of War III. For starters it was well illuminated. In GoW III Hades was dark, and painted in a pallet of grays, blues, and black. This Hades had more Earth tones, and reds.

There was an ocean of blood in the distance.

The terrain was jagged, and uninviting. There were scattered ruins that must have been as old as time itself.

In the distance we could see an enormous tower. This would be revealed as the Pillar of the World. The point that held up the heavens from the underworld.

The level design in Hades was amazing. The faces of warriors were carved into the sides of the mountain, they acted as fountains for the waterfalls of blood cascading down from above.

These were locations that would make for some awesome heavy metal album covers.

I couldn't help but notice that the monsters that appeared in the underworld were different than the nightmare minions from earlier in the game. Although they shared similar attacks they had a different look altogether. This was a detail that I really appreciated in the GoW series. The developers couldn't really create dozens of unique enemy types, each with their own moves, attacks, and models. At least not with the limited memory, and storage in the Playstation 2, or PSP. The workaround that the studios found was in changing the textures on several of the models, and perhaps changing the color of their attacks slightly. This made the enemy types feel more diverse.

I wasn't complaining at all about recycling the models, and swapping out textures. I honestly thought that the villain designs in Chains of Olympus were among the best in the entire series. Look at how cleverly the modeling of the gorgon snake hair became a helmet, and braids for the banshee.

Kratos soon found himself at a river of blood with no way to get around. There was a massive bell to summon the ferry. This was about the time that the mythology geek in me began to hyperventilate. I was geeking out as hard at this moment as I was when Cronos appeared in the first game. I knew about the river Styx, and the ferryman known as Charon. I had no idea that Kratos would ever meet the person that ferried people into the afterlife.

Charon was considered the archetype for the figure we think of as Death today. He lamented to Kratos that both were slaves to the gods, never to be liberated from their service. He told Kratos it was not yet his time to be in Hades, as if he could foretell his future.

Having a boss battle with Charon was not on my checklist for badass moments in the series. Unfortunately for Kratos he is defeated by the ferryman, and tossed into the lowest pits of Hades. The dark place known as Tartarus.

Kratos wakes up chained to a wall. He is weak, and trapped in the place where condemned souls go. The only way to regain strength here is to kill the other souls chained in Tartarus.

We saw Tartarus in GoW III but it looked completely different. This portion of the underworld was colored with greens, and blueish-grays. The color scheme was another solid design choice. It told audiences they were now in a unique environment. Even the type of flames that illuminated this section were special. We had golden braziers in the Temple of Helios, warm torches in the Caves of Olympus, burning red coals in Hades, and bright sparking phosphorus in Tartarus.  

We were now getting to explore the place that the gods of Olympus had banished the titans.

I didn't know whether or not I would see any titans, but I was eager to continue exploring, and battling my way to the truth.

Again, I was struck with how amazing the locations, and enemy designs were in the game. Ready at Dawn Studios made sure that the Morpheus, and Hades minions had their own style, even if they shared polygon models, and moves.

The best of these were the ghost-like Hyperion Guards, and Death Knights. The Hyperion Guards looked like massive gladiators, with a key-shaped sword, and heavy shield. They could take a lot of damage, and deal even more. Then there were the Death Knights, whose spiked helmet, mace, and gate-like shield were every bit as formidable. These were the types of designs I wished there were statues, or action figures of.

As Kratos traveled through the underworld he discovered the corpse of the Jailer of Tartarus. It never occurred to me that there would have been someone responsible for keeping an eye on the souls that the gods had banished. There was even a crypt for the previous jailers. These were the types of details that helped make the world more real to me.

Kratos takes the jailer's key, and uses it to reach a secret platform.

We knew that Zeus used the Blade of Olympus to end the war against the titans. But we never knew how he kept the titans locked away until now.

Zeus had a Gauntlet created that would allow him to bind the titans to Tartarus using the Chains of Olympus. This would become the second, and most powerful weapon that Kratos would earn on the journey.

It seemed absurdly large over the arms of Kratos, but remember that Zeus stood a full head, or two taller than Kratos. It would have been more proportional to him. Best of all the Gauntlet of Zeus could be used against anyone standing in his way. Of course we still had to get out of Tartarus before we could see the full potential of the gauntlet.

As Kratos searched for an exit the hint of a conspiracy was starting to build.

We actually began to see evidence of titans bound to the walls of Tartarus.

One of the most important titans in history was clearly visible. It was Hyperion.

This was the father of Helios, Eos, and Selene. Remember that the Olympians were descended from the Titans. Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades were the sons of Cronos.

There was no love lost between the gods, and titans. They had locked up their parents so that they would never be seen again.

Kratos discovered that the chains that held the titan Atlas were broken. It filled the Spartan with dread.

He needed to find out where the powerful titan went, and get to the bottom of this mystery.

He followed the clues, and used the Gauntlet of Zeus to create a bridge using one of the chains.

Kratos was able to find a cliff wall on the edge of Tartarus.

There was an enormous waterfall cascading blood.

Kratos found a wall that he could scale using his Blades of Chaos.

He climbed for what seemed to be ages, and managed to reach the source of the waterfall. It was the river Styx.

Kratos summoned Charon once more, this was an eagerly anticipated rematch.

Charon could not defend himself against the attacks thanks to the Gauntlet of Zeus.

With Charon defeated Kratos had earned his third, and final magic attack. He picked up the golden mask that Charon hid his decomposing face behind. It was called Charon’s Wrath, and it allowed him to target multiple enemies with a burning gaze. Kratos could hold it ahead of him like Medusa's head, and fire off attacks.

Kratos then took the ferry up the river.

I enjoyed the few seconds of the in game cut-scene. It gave me a moment to think about how far the game had taken me.

I felt as if Ready at Dawn was filling out the plans that Sony Santa Monica had for Kratos since the first game. It allowed me to enjoy the classic mythological world of the past. It was serious in tone, but visually far different than the gritty world presented in GoW III.

I was trying to figure out how Morpheus was able to take Helios out of the sky. This game had the makings of a very good mystery. I was certainly hooked.

Kratos was headed towards the Temple of Persephone. She was the wife of Hades, god of the underworld.

Kratos began to hear the familiar song as he got closer to the temple.

Kratos saw his daughter as the ferry approached the temple. Calliope was playing her flute on the docks.

She skipped away towards the temple, unaware that her father was calling out to her.

Kratos goes through the temple, room to room, perpetually just missing Calliope as she goes into the next area.

Wave after wave of monsters slows down his pursuit.

Once again the developers created a fantastic stage, and colored it so that it stood apart from Tartarus, Marathon, Attica, the Caves of Olympus, or any other location featured in the game.

The lowest levels of the Temple, the ones closest to the river Styx are saturated in red.

As Kratos climbs the floors then light begins pouring through the windows, giving everything a more golden shade.

Kratos makes it to the other side of the temple where he finds himself at the Groves of Persephone.

He calls out for his daughter but she is nowhere to be seen.

He sees Persephone, the goddess of death. He demands to know where Calliope is.

She says that Calliope is in the Fields of Elysium, along with the other pure souls. Unfortunately Kratos cannot join her because he is mortal, and he has a troubled past.

Persephone says that if he wants to be reunited with Calliope then he has to atone for his dark past, and give everything up. His godhood, his magic, and his weapons.

Kratos does this so that he may enter Elysium. The reunion with Calliope filled with joy, but is unfortunately short lived. An earthquake begins to shake the afterlife.

Persephone reveals that the afterlife was coming to an end, along with everything else. She was the one pulling the strings. She broke Atlas out of Tartarus, and sent him to kidnap Helios. He was now at the top of the Pillar of the World destroying it. This would cause the collapse of the heavens, and afterlife.

Morpheus was a pawn in her scheme, a distraction. It was assumed that Charon was also tired of his servitude, and looked the other way as Atlas escaped. She hated living in the underworld, and caring for the dead souls. Since Hades kidnapped her, and forced her to be his wife she decided it would be better to destroy everyone, and everything in order to be free. By taking away all of Kratos’ strength the last person that could have stopped her was now powerless.

In order to regain everything Kratos has to reject his daughter, the last connection to his humanity. He then had to kill the innocent souls in the afterlife to slowly rebuild his strength, magic, and weapons. It was a sad turn of events denying Calliope.

If you looked carefully in the grass you could see Calliope sitting, and lamenting the loss of her father.

It was a story turn I didn’t expect, and something that made me genuinely hate the character of Persephone. This was great development from Ready at Dawn. It made the coffin of Persephone, and Hades’ loathing Kratos more impactful in GoW III.

The last portion of the game has Persephone switch from her dress into armor. She flies to the top of the pillar, where we see Atlas punching away at it. In one of his four hands a powerful light is shining. Helios is trapped within. It is a vicious fight against the titan, and goddess. In fact I thought she put up a bigger challenge than Hades. Kratos eventually gains the upper hand in the battle, and uses the Gauntlet of Zeus to chain Atlas to the heavens, forcing him to act as the top support of the pillar. He kills Persephone, and vows that the gods will honor their agreement to free him from his servitude. He rides away with the Chariot, and Helios back to the surface world. Kratos passes out, and falls from the chariot when it hits the thin air of the stratosphere. The gods stop his rapid descent as he lands at the Suicide Bluffs.

Athena, and Helios take the Sun Shield, and Gauntlet of Zeus away from Kratos while he lays unconscious. They use a portal at the top of the cliffs to return to Mount Olympus. This is literally a few moments before the beginning cinema in the original God of War. When Kratos awakes he thinks that the gods have abandoned him. He decides to step off the cliff, and set off the events of the first game. It was an amazing experience, the kind of adventure that I enjoyed best in the series. I had no idea that the follow up game would be even better, and possibly the best game in the entire series. I’m going to dig into this on the next blogs. Did you have a favorite God of War game? Did you play Chains of Olympus? What did you think about it? Let me know in the comments section please. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!