God of War, exploring the roots of Kratos' design

While I was working on the God of War blogs I was going back through a lot of concept art of the series. It reminded me of some early behind the scenes footage. I'd like to explore the origins of Kratos, and how the games could have gone in a completely different direction. I'd like you to use your imagination, and ask yourself what if Kratos had looked like he did in his early art. For starters let's talk about his final design. David Jaffe is credited as the father of Kratos, but he defers the look, and especially animation to Cory Barlog. David wanted the hero of his story to be a rage filled monster. He didn't necessarily have to have the physique of a swollen bodybuilder as most games, or comic book characters did at the time. Instead he wanted someone that was strong, but aggressive. The template he pointed to was the Neo Nazi character Derek Vinyard from the film American History X. Derek was played by actor Ed Norton.

The film is an ugly, but realistic portrayal of Neo Nazis in the USA. The ways in which they are recruited, and groomed by their betters to spread their agenda. Derek is by all means an unforgivable character, especially after killing two Black men, and being sent to prison. What happens next is an unraveling of the character, the roots of his hate, and rage. Ultimately he has to find a way to keep his hate from spreading to his younger brother. It's a great film, but not for everybody. But I digress. The character of Kratos is meant to have a similar tragic origin as Derek, and share the same emotive qualities. With that in mind I think Mr. Barlog nailed what Jaffe was asking for. It was a far cry from the earliest prototypes for the character.

The studio knew they wanted to tell a swords, and sandals adventure. So they tasked the art team to create a legendary warrior. This fighter didn't necessarily have to be based on an actual historical figure. Their armor, and weapons didn't have to be rooted in reality. Leaning on fantasy was acceptable. Dozens, if not hundreds of drafts were submitted. In the earliest forms the character was completely armored. You couldn't really make out a face, skin color, or any other distinguishing figures. It could be the type of character that any game player could place themselves in. It was rarely done in gaming, but it had worked previously with characters like Master Chief from Halo, and Issac from Dead Space. The armored warrior was okay, but audiences needed a reason to root for them. Some of the early drafts also gave this warrior a baby to care for, or transport.

The studio considered this draft of Kratos the Lone Wolf and Cub. The idea was copied many times from the works of a manga series of the same name from 1970. The story of Ogami Itto the former executioner, and his son Daigoro is set feudal Japan during the 1700's. Written by Kazuo Koike, and illustrated by Goseki Kojima the series has been published in multiple languages, and been adapted to anime, and film. It is easily one of the greatest stories of all time, and the fact that the majority of the adventures were told without dialogue helped make it an international hit. Many of the people working on the God of War franchise would have probably been familiar with the manga, if they didn't grow up reading it. I can imagine that the early faceless warrior would have instantly have a ton of pathos if he had to raise his kid in a harsh environment. Yet that was one proposed idea to get audiences to root for the hero. The other idea that was floating around in the early days was to give our hero a puppy.

Imagine how the game would have played if our adventurer was raising a dog, or wolf cub. It's not hard to guess that the combat system, enemies, and stage designs would have to be built around what this little sidekick was capable of. There had actually been a precedent for this type of adventure. You would have to go all the way back to 1989 to see where it started. Sega had a side scrolling action game called Shinobi that they released in arcades in 1987. In it the ninja Joe Musashi has to infiltrate a crime organization armed with his sword, and throwing stars. The sequel Shadow Dancer: The Secret of Shinobi has Joe fighting alongside an attack dog named Shadow. He can send the dog to distract enemies while he then strikes them down. It made for an interesting idea, and a memorable game. I'm not sure if that mechanic would work in 3D, but it was interesting that Sony Santa Monica had considered it.

Jaffe would challenge his art team to try different things to help visualize the main character, and type of game he wanted to create. Instead of just going for realistic, or fantasy warriors he would say draw what the physical embodiment of rage would look like. What about war, or anger, or hate? What does that look like if those intangibles were a person? Lots of ideas were submitted. Characters made of fire, and spikes. Assassins covered in blades. All sorts of drawings flowed in. Little by little they discovered that they could humanize what they were going after if audiences could see the face of the protagonist. At first it was just an open face helmet that they wore. Perhaps some war paint, or a tattoo to give them personality. But if this character was going to have face markings then it made more sense to get rid of the helmet completely. Little by little the ideas for Kratos were starting to come together.

Would this character have hair? Would they be covered in scars? Were they covered in paint, or tattoos? If so were these markings tribal in nature? The team went back to the drawing board. They started stripping away the armor, and in doing so they learned it was easier to read the physicality of the character. To make him appear more animated. They saw how much they could take away from him, while still making him look like a warrior. In the end the costume was essentially from the waist down. It was the pteruges, the pleated skirts worn by Greek, and Roman soldiers, shin guards, and sandals. The rest was tattoos, and an attitude. Figuring out the weapons he would be using was a challenge in itself. Swords, throwing spikes, axes, everything was considered. As the game engine was coming together one of the senior artists, Charlie Wen, was sketching on a napkin at lunch. The form, weapons, and poses were an amalgamation of the best ideas from the studio. He brought his idea back to the studio where Jaffe pretty much confirmed that was exactly what they were looking for.

The question then came what to color the character. Jaffe noticed that some other sketches had a ghostly white character. The artists planned on going back, and painting the skin after they had colored in the armor, and weapons. Jaffe said to keep the character pale, and they would create a story as to why he was colored like that. This is how the ashes of his slaughtered family worked into the canon of the game. The team had to figure out what the markings would look like. Were they earth-tones, like mud or camouflage? In the earliest drafts the iconic tattoos were blue, and purple. Purple was a rare color to create in ancient times. It would really only be seen on royalty, or the very rich. The warrior was anything but an elite. Blue was a strong choice, but red popped even more on the screen. So Kratos came together little bits at a time, and after lots of fine tuning with many fantastic artists. It was more than just giving swords to a Neo Nazi movie character.

There were a few drafts that I especially enjoyed. These were the ones where Kratos had a distinct African origin. The character was not only Black, but his armor, and weapons were unlike anything that we had seen in traditional media. I like to go back, and think about how the franchise would have turned out if the settings were Africa. Not Egypt necessarily, although their pantheon would be a good place to end up. Do you think this character had potential? Do you think it would be fun to revisit the classic GoW gameplay, but with a different leading character? Perhaps set in the same universe, but another part of the world?

I hope you enjoyed this dive into the origins of Kratos. Is there a favorite draft of the character that you enjoyed best? Maybe it was a skin you could unlock in one of the game. Would you have enjoyed the game more or less if Kratos were dragging a baby, or puppy along with him? 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!

How God of War II improved upon perfection...

In an earlier blog I mentioned the elements that I thought made for a great sequel. When movies were exceptionally made, told a riveting story, and had actors that made us believe in the world the director had created then it was possible to have an even more amazing sequel. I talked about how Aliens, Back to the Future II, The Empire Strikes Back, and Terminator 2 were awesome follow-up movies. They had raised the stakes, gave more important roles to the main characters, and even let the villains win to make a come back feel even greater. Great video games also made use of these lessons, God of War was no exception. Sony Santa Monica had raised the bar for an entire console generation. Other developers tried to copy the formula, or the play mechanics (Sonic Unleashed I’m looking at you), but it just didn’t work out. It was going to be all but impossible to top the game on the current Playstation 2 hardware. God of War came out in 2005, and most everyone believed that a sequel would be released on the Playstation 3, which would come out in 2006. Instead it was announced that God of War II would be released in 2007, and for the Playstation 2. Audiences couldn’t believe it. They thought that Sony was shooting themselves in the foot. Instead it turned out to be a very calculated risk. Since the PS2 was still a popular selling console, and it already had millions of units installed all around the world then it would make GoW II an instant best seller. Sony would be able to recoup a huge cost relatively quickly. Also the team at Sony Santa Monica was developing both GoW II, and GoW III simultaneously. The studio was learning the new hardware from scratch. The tricks that they had learned with the PS2 wouldn’t necessarily apply here. However they would be able to ensure that thematically the look, feel, and story of GoW III would be seamless between the platforms.

It took a lot of hard work from Sony Santa Monica, and although there had been different directors through the history of the franchise, they were able to make sure that the games felt like one connected story. Nothing felt out of place, nothing betrayed the spirit of the first, even as some events were retconned. When it came to this series I honestly felt that the first game in every chapter was perfect, and yet somehow the follow up was even better. To me that means God of War II was better than the original. I see the PSP games, and PS3 games through a similar lens. God of War III was great, but I think God of War Ascension, the second PS3 game, was even better. God of War Chains of Olympus was amazing, but God of War Ghost of Sparta was a step above perfection on the PSP. The reason why each follow up I consider better than the prior has to do with the team. In the first game the studio is breaking new ground, they are still getting a feel for the hardware, and software. They are still trying to figure out who the characters, and villains are. They go back, and forth refining the locations, villains, puzzles, and mechanics. By the time a sequel gets made the studio is filled with veterans. They know exactly where they are with the technology, characters, and game play. They are able to add new staff members that bring in more experience, and help raise the next game to even more amazing places. With God of War II we were able to hit all the notes that made the first game amazing, and then expand on everything tenfold.

The game begins with the Spartan army laying siege to Rhodes. Conquering another city for the honor of Kratos, the new god of war. Athena appears in the flesh, she was simply a statue in the first game. Voiced by Carole J. Ruggier, the actress was fantastic throughout the series, and held her own with T.C. Carson, and Linda Hunt. She warns Kratos that the other gods will not tolerate his actions. He brushes her off, and leaps from Olympus to finish razing the city. As with all tragedies Kratos doesn’t even realize that he became the monster that Ares was at the start of the first game. Kratos even turns into a giant when he starts demolishing Rhodes. Just as Ares was a giant when he was attacking Athens. To try, and stop the mad god of war Athena strips Kratos of some of his power, and gives it to the Colossus of Rhodes. One of the fabled ancient wonders of the world. The Colossus comes to life, and begins advancing on the player. Audiences are given time to relearn the controls of the game, while the giant golden statue stalks us in the background. Even the human-sized Kratos is still too much for the army to deal with. He was as powerful at the start of this game, as when he was at the end of God of War. He even used the golden blades of Athena, instead of the Blades of Chaos, which he had earned at the conclusion of the first title. Right away we can tell that everything that made the original game memorable has been cranked up. The visuals, sound, animation, control, and effects were improved over the first. That in itself seemed impossible.

The game begins was a multi-stage encounter fighting the Colossus. Kratos is flung from one corner of the port village to the other. Zeus delivers the Blade of Olympus, the sword that he used to defeat the titans in the Great War. He tricks Kratos into using it so that his remaining power would be pulled into the weapon. We get a chance to fight the Colossus inside, and out. Battling inside a moving stage was something I’m sure the team had always wanted to do. The interior of the statue is a lattice of wood that is being engulfed in flames. Kratos not only has to defeat the waves of Rhodes defenders, but also has to take apart the superstructure while not falling into the flames. The game managed to raise the stakes over the iconic Hydra fight from the original. Where it went from here was anyones guess. I was certainly ready to go along for the ride. Kratos defeats the giant, and is boasting to the gods. But in his hubris he fails to see the hand of the Colossus falling on him. Without his godly powers to protect him he is flattened, and barely left alive. Zeus shows up, and finishes the job. Running him through with the Blade of Olympus. He says he does this to protect Olympus. Kratos is pulled into the underworld, but is saved by Gaia. The surviving titan gives Kratos some of her power, so that he may aid her, and the other titans. She hopes to gain revenge on the Olympians as much as Kratos does. Again, I had no idea where we were going from here, but I was 100% on board. I did not expect to see more mythical characters introduced, or that some loose ends would be tied up.

For example in the back story of the first game Kratos grows to be a legendary Spartan captain, but his men got wiped out by a barbarian horde. He offers his soul to Ares just as he is about to be killed by the Barbarian King Alrik. Kratos is gifted with the Blades of Chaos which he uses to decapitate the massive warrior. You have to wonder how mighty Alrik was to have bested the god of war in a one-on-one battle. Many fans questioned where the Barbarians came from, and who was this mysterious figure that had almost changed the course of history? Just as Kratos had fought his way out of Hades in the first game we get to see Alrik return from the underworld to get a rematch. His appearance gave me goosebumps, I recognized the fur-covered warrior right away. He was not only strong enough to break the grasp of death, he also was able to pull other souls out of the afterlife. Seeing the Ship Captain that Kratos managed to kill twice get summoned by Alrik was impressive, and at the same time comedy gold. It was not the only mythological match-up in the game. Kratos also fights Theseus, a king of Athens. He was a person that defeated the Minotaur in Crete, had captured the Marathonian Bull. He went on many adventures with Hercules, Jason, Orpheus, Euphemus, and other great legends. He was arguably the greatest hero in Greek mythology. This crossover made the mythology obsessive kid in me super excited. That was until Kratos then had to fight Perseus.

It seemed that the developers at Sony Santa Monica grew up with the same influences that I did. They must have been awed by the same films, and had kept them close to their hearts. The story of Perseus was told in the classic film Clash of the Titans. It was the movie that taught me about the titans, Medusa, and the various gods. I had talked earlier in the blog series how the stop motion work in the movie was done by Ray Harryhausen. He had worked on Jason, and the Argonauts, as well as The Golden Voyage of Sindbad. Not to mention dozens of other cult favorites. His work was as inspirational to me as any other artists living, or dead. Harryhausen brought the enormous Kraken to life, as well as the distance shots for the devil-like Calibos, and the tiny mechanical marvel Bubo who was Athena’s owl. What amazed me about GoW II was that the studio asked Harry Hamlin to reprise his role as Perseus some 25 years after he last played the part. I’m sure he was not about to turn down Sony for the project. Part of him must have been humbled knowing that an entire generation of kids never forgot the actor, or character. These kids were now writers, and directors in their own right. My brothers, and I were certainly giddy that Hamlin would be voicing one of our childhood heroes once more. I even told my mom about it, and she couldn’t believe that Generation-X never forgot the character. Of course the downside was that if he was going up against Kratos then it was not going to end well for him.

God of War was also creating an entirely new chapter in the mythology, and the way the gods were presented. In the era of the internet, cell phones, self driving cars, and other technological wonders Sony managed to take material that was thousands of years old, and make it accessible to the 21st century. The heroes of antiquity were vibrant, and moreover made cool once more. There weren’t many studios that could claim to bring history to life. Let alone influence global culture through their efforts. Proof of this was in the Hollywood remake of Clash of the Titans. The 2010 movie by Warner Bros. was undoubtedly nudged into production by the runaway success that Sony was having with God of War. The advances in special effects were light years above the work that went into the MGM classic. The monster designs in the new film were much more influenced by the types of characters featured in the Sony game, rather than the Harryhausen movies. Proof of this could be seen with the updated Kraken design. The original monster was terrifying on the big screen, at least it was to me as a kid. The Kraken featured in GoW II was much scarier, and could have easily influenced the look of the gigantic beast in the new movie.

Going bigger, and better with every step of the series was something that David Jaffe helped push the team to do through SingleTrac, Incognito Entertainment, and Sony Santa Monica. The direction, casting, acting, and story were all rock solid. There was nowhere that Kratos could have gone to that I wasn’t eager to follow. There was no challenge that was impossible to beat for the Ghost of Sparta. My jaw dropped with the Cronos scene in the first game. Crossing the Desert of Lost Souls on the back of the titan leader was more amazing than anything I could have ever imagined. I had no idea that the sequel would have another scene to top it. Kratos was trying to cross the Great Chasm when he got into a fight with Icarus. As they fell through the world they ended up in a massive red abyss. I freaked out when I saw Atlas holding the world on his shoulders. Kratos landed on his brow, the head of the creature was as massive as an office building. Hollywood actor Michael Clarke Duncan voiced the four-armed titan. His deep baritone voice was perfect for the mountainous monster. Since Kratos had been stripped of his godly powers at the start of the game, he needed to be built back up again with new magics. A collection of Titans, and Primordials including Gaia, Cronos, Typhon, Prometheus, and Atlas had all leant Kratos a portion of their power through the different chapters of the game. They sought revenge against the Olympians as much as Kratos had. There was of course one final obstacle to beat. The Sisters of Fate were revealed to be the ones literally pulling the strings. In the game they lived in the Island of Creation, a place impossible for mortals to reach. In mythology the fates wove the threads of life. They knew the lives of every living being, including the heroes of old. When a person reached the end of their life they would cut the threads with magical scissors. In classic literature they looked like maidens working at a loom. Spinning threads, and overlapping encounters as they spun out destiny.

Sony Santa Monica had done a great job at interpreting the mythological characters, and made them appealing to modern audiences. The entire series had a certain aesthetic. The character designs were not quite realistic, nor were they cartoonish. They were instead something in-between. None of the characters, locations, or set designs were historically accurate. Instead studio artists incorporated elements that we would have identified as Greek, or Roman, but presented with the style of a comic book archetype. The three Sisters of Fate were made very unique, whereas their classic counterparts looked like regular women. Atropos was the oldest, she was the one that cut the threads. Her golden armor, and long scissor-like fingers a nod to her origin story. Lahkesis was the second oldest, and was responsible for determining how a person lived their life. This meant the sister looked the most human, and attractive in the game. Clotho was the youngest sister, at least in historical context. She was the one that spun the threads of fate. Instead of being a young maiden she was presented as a gigantic creature, with dozens of breasts. Like an enormous, obese silk worm. It was both a grotesque, and captivating monster design. Kratos defeats the sisters, and takes the power to rewind his thread, and return back in time to the moment where Zeus betrayed him.

Kratos fights the king of the gods thanks to his newfound power. Zeus has a bunch of tricks at his command, and we have to fight him in multiple stages. From being a gigantic boss, to a more human-sized opponent. Well, Zeus remains tall in the game, well over seven feet in his human form. It is a well planned battle that sees the two trading blows, and neither really gaining the advantage. The game play in every boss encounter in the series is very well balanced, and the fights between Ares, and Zeus at the end of each respective game was the perfect kind of challenge. Kratos eventually gets the upper hand in the battle, he takes the Sword of Olympus, and tries to kill the father of the gods. Athena steps in and sacrifices herself. It was a moment that my brothers, and I did not anticipate. We literally gasped when the scene played out. Of course had we been paying more attention to the classic story structure we would have realized that she was the one destined to die. She had been with Kratos the longest time, had shown him mercy, and was trying to redeem him since the first game. Her death would have meant much more to audiences than Kratos simply getting his revenge.

Zeus slips away, and runs back to Mount Olympus. Athena explains to Kratos that his obsession will destroy everything they have built. Kratos simply wants to kill his newly revealed father, but he doesn’t understand that Zeus is Olympus, if he dies then all of the gods die. With Athena passing, really the only god that he cares about, then he resolves that all of the gods must then indeed die. He returns back to the Sisters of Fate Loom Chamber, and goes further back in time. He uses the Blade of Olympus to pull the titans out of the great war, and bring them to his timeline. The game then ends with the titans, and Kratos climbing up Mount Olympus, a set up to the third, and assumed final chapter in the God of War series. It was a powerful ending, but one I didn’t necessarily appreciate. It was as if everything that happened in GoW II was nothing more than an ad to sell the Playstation 3, and the next game. That was how I felt about it. The previous 99.9% of the game was absolutely worth the experience. It had improved upon the original in every regard. The ending was a minor issue. Whether or not God of War III would be a worthy wrap up of the story was yet to be revealed. I was counting the days until I could get my hands on the game. If you played through GoW II what did you think? Did you think it was better than the first? Did you have a favorite encounter? Or was there something you wish had been explored in the story? 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!