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!

God of War, the story of the Suicide Tree

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 little bit of concept work that never made it into the game, and perhaps give it some context. The first is actually a grotesque monster whose origins may be the most disturbing in the franchise’s history. In the early drafts of the game there was a proposed location, that evolved into a monster. Let’s take a look at the literal roots of this creature. Kratos is pulled into Hades during the events of the Chains of Olympus. He is trying to figure out where Helios, the god of the sun, has disappeared to. The team at Ready at Dawn Studios wanted to make the realm of Hades, and the pits of Tartarus look truly unique. They wanted the landscape to appear as dangerous as the monsters lurking within. They proposed a sort of mini boss that grew from a tree. You could see it in the concept art. The tree was covered with bodies hanging by their necks. It was also known as the Tartarus Suicide Creature.

The studio went so far as to create a portion of a level around this beast. In at least one rare screenshot you could see where this encounter would take place. I’m not for certain if this was meant to be in Hades, in Tartarus, or in the mist created by Morpheus in the city of Marathon. There were no buildings, or other signs of life in this location. We could see a curtain of fog hung in the distance. There were gentle rolling hills with waist high fields of grain. There was nothing else on the stage except for a tree with a thick trunk, and exposed gnarled roots. Ropes with multiple skulls hung from the short branches. You could almost imagine Kratos coming up to the tree when it suddenly started rising from the ground. I’m betting that it would have been hiding, or protecting the entrance to the deepest bowels of Hades. It would have been a scary sight.

There was something about the tree, and environment that was unnerving. The collection of skulls was of course a huge warning sign, but that was only part of the draw. How did they get there? How long has this tree been used to hang the dead? Were they there by choice, or punishment? Spooky forests are nothing new in classical literature. We can all think of a fairy tale that takes place in some creepy woods. Hansel & Gretel, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty are all stories that share pivotal scenes where the protagonists are lost in the woods. There was one forest that itself became a character in a story. The forest of the suicides was detailed by the Italian author Dante Alighieri in his poem known as Inferno. The forest was made of living trees, which were actually the souls of people that had killed themselves. The spirits could only speak if their limbs were broken. They were tortured by harpies that would break their limbs just to hear them wail in pain.

There was a game based on Dante’s Inferno. It was developed by Visceral Games, and published by Electronic Arts in 2010. In it a templar knight named Dante visited the nine levels of hell written about in the poem. He was trying to save his love Beatrice from Lucifer, who we might think of as Satan. It wasn’t hard to see how the dark origin of Kratos, and his adventures didn’t help inspirit the creation of this title. Many publishers were eager to recreate the success that Sony had with the God of War franchise. Unfortunately no amount of sex, violence, or eerily-similar puzzles, encounters, and music was enough to get audiences to switch titles. Of course game play also had a lot to do with the success of GoW. Sony Santa Monica had given us a dark, and twisted forest previously. The Bog of the Forgotten was the early portion of the Island of Creation. In it we could clearly see bodies hanging from the trees. It gave the swamp an ominous feeling. Ready at Dawn wanted to see if they could turn that location into a character.

Illustrator Justin Murray sketched out his idea for the Suicide Tree. He was responsible for a lot of the character designs in the Ghost of Sparta. His tree was oozing with personality. It could have been one of the rare places in the franchise where the terrain evolved into a living monster. Sadly many great ideas have to be cut due to time, and money. This would become one of them. Since the studio had already gone to the trouble of creating a model for it they found a way to incorporate it into the finished game. When Kratos reaches the Gates of Hades we see the tree at the edge of a cliff. Still as ominous as ever, even without any additional context. I’m glad that the studio found a way to use this set piece. 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. 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!

God of War, where were the Amazons?

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 bit of concept work that never made it into the game. Today I’d like to talk about the Amazons. For a game that features a good chunk of Greek mythology it was surprising that the Amazons were not featured more prominently in the games. The female warriors from were legendary in the fables of Homer, Euripides, Herodotus, and other ancient writers. Queen Hippolyta, sometimes written Hippolyte was the daughter of Ares, and Otrera. She was by far the best warrior of the women, and was gifted a magical war belt by her father. This belt did more than hold her sword, it provided her protection from mortal wounds. Without it she could be killed. Hercules was tasked to retrieve this belt for Admete, the daughter of King Eurystheus. Admete was obsessed with the Amazons, and wished to have a possession of theirs. Getting this item for the young princess would become his ninth labor. Hippolyta freely gave Hercules the belt when he explained his labors. Sadly the queen of the gods Hera had gone in disguise as an Amazon. She had sewn discord with the tribe, causing them to attack Hercules, and his men. They killed most of his men, and Hercules killed Hippolyta before escaping. In other stories she was taken by Theseus, and married him while in Athens. The Amazonians tried to steal her back, and she was killed in the ensuing conflict, either by her husband, or accidentally by her own warriors.

The name Amazon was used thousands of years before the South American river was named. In fact the river had multiple names in Pre-Columian history such as Guainí, Tambo, Apurimac, Orinoco, Solimões, and Amaru Mayu. The Amazon is actually a word from Ancient Greek meaning “missing one breast.” This was because the warriors were rumored to cut off one breast so that it wouldn’t get in the way of their archery, or spear throwing. They lived apart from men by choice. This didn’t mean they didn’t have relationships with men. If they got pregnant then they would only keep the female offspring. In some versions of the legends they would kill the male children, or cripple them, and turn them into slaves. They had a reputation for being merciless in combat. Plus they were known for raiding many outposts, and pillaging whatever they needed. With such a lengthy history you would think that the Amazons would have been a part of the GoW series since day one. Sadly they were only seen once. The female warriors were painted in blue body paint, had a spear, and small Greek shield. They popped up on the Isle of Delos in GoW Ascension. This was the very last of the Greek saga games.

The version of the characters in the game was fairly accurate. Moreover it was great to see some Black representation in the game, better late than never I suppose. Just an FYI, Hercules was Black in a couple of the earliest concept art. But I digress. Although it was sometimes difficult to make out on the screen the warriors actually had only one breast. You could make out a scar across the chest whenever the in-game camera zoomed in. This was usually when Kratos was performing a killing blow. What I never knew was that Amazons were in the plans for my other favorite GoW title, the Ghost of Sparta. Concept artist Justin Murray designed a great chunk of the characters for the game. His stylized characters were not quite comic book, nor were they manga. They fit in perfectly with the majority of the aesthetic used in the GoW series.

There were at least two proposed designs for the characters. Given the diversity of the Hoplite, Persian, and Rhodes soldiers featured in other games then at least two different Amazons would have been featured in Ghost of Sparta. The designs for Mr. Murray were not dainty warriors. They were a few heads taller than Kratos, who is well over six-feet-tall. They were as big as Zeus, or Thanatos based on the concept art. Mr. Murray kept their breasts intact, however they were proposed to have armor go over one breast, or perhaps have some scarring just under their collarbone. Each of the designs also had a unique weapon. One wielded a chakram, sometimes called a chakar. These were circular throwing blades from India. They were best known as the weapon used by Xena: Warrior Princess from the ‘90s television show. Like most of the weapons in the GoW series this version would be huge, and far more intimidating than the historical armament. It had a brass body, with three angry blades on the outer edge. The other proposed Amazon weapon was even more fantastic. It was an axe with a burning core, attached by a chain to a handle. It was unlike any other weapon I had seen from history.

The difference between the thousands of concept illustrations created for the series, and the Amazons was that there was at least one model was created, and rigged for animation. This was years before God of War Ascension. This Amazon looked just like the concept art, and matched the stylized world of the classic GoW games. I can almost imagine how she would have fought. With a chakram larger than the Blades of Chaos she would have had ranged attacks, and close up strikes in equal measure. It makes me a little bit sad knowing that they never appeared in Ghost of Sparta. 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. 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!

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!

God of War Ascension, a female lead, and the two-player experience that never was

When I began the portion on God of War Ascension I mentioned that Sony Santa Monica had three goals for the game. They wanted to create a single player adventure, in the vein of the classic GoW titles. They also wanted to create an Online Multiplayer mode. They delivered on both counts, but the third goal for the game was dropped due to time, and budget constraints. The studio wanted to create a co-op adventure as well. I don’t know if the co-op mode was going to share the story, and locations of the main game. Perhaps it would have visited some of the multiplayer sites. I have a feeling this might have been the case when we look at some of the characters that were planned to have much bigger roles in Ascension, including dialogue. The first of these was Archimedes.

Archimedes was born in Syracuse, Italy in 287 B.C. He was a world renown philosopher, engineer, inventor, physicist, and mathematician. He mastered the lever, and perfected compound pulleys for moving heavy objects. He created new ways to pump water, and grain uphill. He discovered formulas for geometry that were still taught to this day. His type of genius wouldn’t be seen for another 1700 years when Leonardo DaVinci was born in another small town in Italy. We had actually seen the work of Archimedes previously in the Ghost of Sparta. He had engineered the mechanisms that kept the Methana Volcano from erupting, as well as the pumps that made Atlantis the masters of water. Before he was turned into a mummified corpse the team at Sony Santa Monica had plans for giving him a cut scene in GoW Ascension.

The engineer wasn’t the only person that was left on the cutting room floor. Another character from history would have also had a bigger role. The Cyclops had been a part of the GoW series since the very first game. They were the heavy-hitters in the franchise. Bigger, and stronger than the minotaur, juggernaut, or Talos. They weren’t often presented as very bright. Their job was pure destruction. Ascension would have had the biggest, and most famous of all the one-eyed creatures. Polyphemus was a one-eyed giant. He was the son of Poseidon, and the sea nymph Thoosa. He was blinded by Odysseus in the story of the Odyssey. Polyphemus was fueled with rage, and cursed the explorer. He prayed that his father would help him get revenge. Poseidon, and the other gods obliged. They kept Odysseus from reaching his home for two decades.

Polyphemus was supposed to have several speaking lines in Ascension. Having the massive character talk to, or challenge Kratos didn’t seem to be an impossible task. The developers had already created stages around the titans Atlas, Gaia, and Cronos. Plus the Hecatonchires stage was as massive as any other battle Kratos had to go through. I wonder though if Polyphemus would have chased Kratos, thrown a building at him, or interacted in some other way. Sadly as the studio was short on time, and money. They made the cyclops an interactive background character, and target for the multiplayer stage in the Desert of Lost Souls. Now I want you to imagine a series of encounters for Kratos, and a second playable character as they met Archimedes, Polyphemus, and perhaps other characters from Ascension. How would this have worked?

The studio wanted to create a complimentary figure to travel with Kratos. This person would have to be able to fight just as good, if not better than the god of war. They would also have to have their own library of weapons, and special attacks. The designers at Sony Santa Monica put together dozens, and dozens of proposed characters. There were men, women, monsters, gods, and Demi-gods all designed to help carry the adventure. The studio had so many choices to pull from that picking just one was all but impossible. That was until one of the senior artists proposed a few characters before he left the studio. Andy Park’s artistic fingerprints were all over GoW II, GoW III, and a little bit in Ascension. Andy helped come up with the look of many of the minor, and major villains in the series, including Persephone, and Cronos. He also helped set the tone for locations like the Temple of The Fates, and Kratos’ throne room on Olympus. One of the creatures he designed was similar in build to a centaur, but instead of the torso of a man, and a body of a horse, this one was a woman with the body of a lion. That design really stuck out to Izzy Medrano who was working on a lot of the characters in GoW Ascension.

The question was who this character would become in the canon of the series. Was she a queen of some sort? A Demi-god, or god reinterpreted? There were a lot of characters in Ascension, would she be related to them? In a way the answer was yes. The studio decided that she would be Artemis the twin sister of Apollo. If you remember the previous blog there was a statue of Apollo on the isle of Delos. This was central to the story, and historically accurate as both of the gods were said to have been born on that island. Apollo, and Artemis were twins born from Leto, and Zeus. Leto was a goddess, born from the titans Coeus, and Phoebe. When Hera, the queen of the gods, and wife of Zeus had found out about about yet another extramarital affair she cursed Leto. She conspired with the other gods as to not allow Leto to find shelter on any land. Plus she sent the Python to constantly pursue her. In ancient times the Python was a child of Gaia. It was a giant serpent that lived in the center of the Earth. It could be summoned to destroy the enemies of the gods. All of this would ensure Leto, and her twins would die during childbirth.

Poseidon took pity on Leto, as she was denied safe passage at every port she traveled to in the Mediterranean. Plus he must have felt some responsibility since his own brother had gotten her into this situation. So he lifted a rock from the ocean floor where she could give birth. This island would become Delos, and since it was not attached to any land mass, nor was it attached to the bottom of the sea, then he was not bound to Hera’s curse. The twins were born like most gods, pretty much fully formed perfect adults. Apollo would kill the Python for hunting his mother. He would also become the patron for, and claim the oracle’s temple at Pytho, which would later be renamed Delphi. These bits of history helped shape the mechanized snake encounters, and murals within the temple in GoW Ascension.

Both Apollo, and Artemis loved archery, and hunting. Both were also very competitive, but never hateful of each other. Artemis was the goddess of the Hunt, the Night, and Chastity. She was associated with silvery moonlight, as Apollo was associated with golden sunlight. She mostly hunted at night, and only with other women so she could keep her vow of chastity. Only one man ever hunted alongside her, that was the giant Orion. He was an exceptional hunter in his own right, using a bronze club as his primary weapon. He wasn’t always a pleasant character. He got drunk in Chios, and sexually assaulted the princess Merope. He was blinded by her father Oenopion in retaliation. Orion would regain his site in Lemnos, the place where Kratos was born. Orion once threatened to kill every beast on the planet. Apollo didn’t like him, or his antics, and summoned one of Gaia’s children to sting him. It was the enormous Skorpius. He succumbed to the poison. Artemis, and Zeus turned Orion, and the Scorpion into a constellation in atonement. Skorpius was an enormous monster that showed up to fight Kratos in the Labyrinth of Daedalus in GoW III. It was also seen in the multiplayer mode in Ascension as well.

Although we never saw Artemis in full body perspective, she has been part of GoW canon since the very first title. When Kratos is exploring the Temple of Pandora he comes across a portal to the gods. Artemis appears to him, she seems to have a shaved haircut, and small horns on her temples. Artemis says “Kratos, the gods demand more of you. You have learned to use the Blades of Chaos well, but they alone will not carry you to the end of your task. I offer you the very blade I used to slay a Titan. Take this gift and use it to complete your quest. Take this weapon, take this power, and use it to defeat your enemies.” The sword is very large, you could imagine that it could pierce the thick skin of the titans. It also leads us to believe that Artemis is much larger than Kratos. A more proportional version of the weapon also appears in GoW Ascension.

Izzy Medrano decided to adapt Andy Park’s female character, and turn her into Artemis. Her human torso was roughly in scale to Kratos, but when it was attached to her big cat body she was much longer, and taller than the Ghost of Sparta. We can see this in the earliest sketches of the goddess.

Izzy made a number of changes to the figure in his own iconic style. The lower half lion body was changed to a tiger body. She wore a shoulder pauldron, and helmet. But she did not have any armor on her animal half. As Izzy was making adjustments to the character he featured her in very dynamic poses. We could see that she fought amazingly well.

She did wield her namesake sword it one sketch, but she was better known as an archer. Izzy came up with a wicked bow design. You could imagine that she could shoot ranged targets, but also swing the angular bow in close combat. By now fans of the two newest GoW titles are guessing that a lot of this planning, and pre-production talk was eventually revisited for the character of Atreus. His library of archery attacks, and melee bow strikes in GoW Ragnarok may have come from the plans for Artemis. Of course by looking at the variety of action poses that Izzy created she was going to be a superior warrior.

Artemis would probably be able to hold her own in hand-to-hand combat against Kratos. The fact that she had two arms, and four massive paws meant she probably could probably even defeat him in unarmed combat. Her sword was equal in strength, if not more so than the Blades of Chaos, and she also had a bow, so her range of attacks was even greater. I can only imagine that the character would have been amazing to see in a co-op mode.

Sadly there wasn’t a model, or render of the character that I know of. We don’t have any test footage to look at. So we’ll just have to use our imagination and wonder how the game would have played. I’m sure there are lots of fans out there plotting out the adventures of Kratos, and Artemis. Part of me hopes that one of those fans works at Sony Santa Monica, and pitches the studio to revisit some of their earlier ideas. Anyhow, that wraps up my look at GoW Ascension. Did you enjoy the game? What do you think of the co-op idea? Would you have wanted to play as Artemis? 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!

God of War Ascension, the multiplayer experience

God of War Ascension offers a grand adventure, comparable to the early GoW titles. However it has another major selling point, it is also the first time that Sony Santa Monica created a multiplayer combat title using the GoW engine. The studio wanted to see if it was possible to assign Kratos-like combat to an online game. Would it still be engaging to audiences? Would the type of combat work well when scaled up from 2 vs 2, 3 vs 3, or 4 vs 4? How large, and interactive would the maps have to be so the stages wouldn’t feel limited? The only way to find out was to build the game, and see. Not many people know that for GoW III the studio was starting to build an entirely new combat engine from scratch. One that would control, animate, and feel like the previous GoW titles. Except that the new engine would actually work in 3D environments when fighting opponents with similar powers, and abilities. The transition to the new fighting engine was so seamless that most people didn’t even notice.

One of the first steps in designing a multiplayer game would be coming up with a leading character, somebody that worked in the GoW universe. This person had to have roughly the same size, and build as Kratos. By doing this the developers could work with roughly the same camera angles, and stage layouts that they had been used to. They wouldn’t have to completely change the assets used in the game for Kratos. The other advantage was for audiences. They would already be familiar with the attack range, and defense of the character if he was the same size as the ghost of Sparta. There were a few Kratos-sized figures in Ascension that could have fit the bill. In one cut scene we visited the streets of Sparta, and saw his soldiers becoming him to return. One of those faceless Spartans could have been a good fighter to start with. Instead Sony Santa Monica wanted a blank slate for players to identify with, and play through. It was decided to create a bald (or shaved head) muscular figure, almost exactly the same build, if not slightly more muscular than Kratos.

The studio referred to this nameless person as the Redeemed Warrior, he would eventually earn the title as Champion of the Gods. We first saw him in the early stages of Ascension. Kratos is chasing after Megaera while in the prison of the Hecatonchires. The warrior praises the gods because he thinks Kratos is there to liberate him. Instead an infected arm of the Hecatonchires breaks the roof of the cell, and it appears that the monster kills the warrior, but instead he actually disappears in a flash of light. When the multiplayer game begins we are returned to that cut scene, but see the warrior reappear in the Rotunda of Olympus. It is a circular arena surrounded by the statues of several gods. Here we are prompted to represent one of the patrons; Zeus, Ares, Hades, or Poseidon in their tournaments. Each god has specific blessings that they grant the warrior. These are advantages in attacks, or defense with magic, and physical strikes. The diversity of different strengths, and weaknesses helps make each selection unique.

The Redeemed Warrior may have been as big as Kratos, but he wasn’t his equal in combat. He was just a hair slower, he moved, dodged, climbed, and recovered just a fraction slower than the god of war. The idea for the champion was that he was superior to a regular warrior, but not the equal to the ghost of Sparta. WIth that said he was someone that could have served as a Lieutenant in the Spartan army under Kratos. Sony Santa Monica did not want to create the Blades of Chaos for the champions to use, but they did introduce different armaments that were just as memorable. Once a player had selected which god to represent then they were prompted to use one of four main types of weapons. These were sword, spear, hammer, and gauntlet. Those that were familiar with the previous three numbered GoW titles had experience with each weapon. They would remember that some had greater range than the Blades of Chaos, or did more damage in close combat. Not only that, some of the named weapons such as the Blade of Artemis (GoW), the Barbarian Hammer (GoW II), the Nemean Cestus (GoW III), and the Spear of Destiny (GoW II) could be earned by winning multiple tournaments.

Not only could audiences fight with a main weapon type, they would also be able to pick up secondary weapons that spawned around the various stages. These second weapons were not as powerful as the main ones, not only that, but they would eventually break if overused.

The nice thing was that they were still useful to set up combos, and even be thrown at opponents to break their defenses. The five secondary weapons were actually featured during the Kratos story in Ascension. The first of these was the Sword. The developers at Sony Santa Monica created more than just one look for the secondary weapons. We could pick up alternate versions of the sword.

There was also a Shield, but that wasn’t half as interesting as the Club.

You might find a club had a stone build. Or the club was forged of iron. Or the club was polished metal with spikes.

There was also a ranged weapon known as the Sling.

You could hurtle fireballs at opponents, but also swing it up close like a mace.

The other ranged weapon was the Javelin.

The secondary weapons actually played differently than the main ones. The majority of secondary weapons were one-handed. This meant that they were mostly smaller, and lighter than the main weapons. Even the two-handed ones like the Club, did not play at all like the Hammer. They were faster to use than main weapons, so a combo could be started with a secondary weapon, but the majority of the damage would come from primary weapons. Sony was aware that some players didn’t want to grind to earn main weapons. They could purchase DLC as well. Some of these weapons I think gave us a hint as to where the franchise would be headed next.

Previously in the blog I talked about how the series had introduced multiple weapons for Kratos to earn, and upgrade. Unfortunately I thought that they were too similar to the Blade of Chaos, or didn’t change the game play enough to warrant wasting experience points on them. Sony Santa Monica found the best way to expand the game play was by adding these disposable secondary weapons. They were fun to use, and could be traded out when a different one was found.

The multiplayer experience not only allowed gamers to collect different weapons, but also entirely different armor sets as well. They weren’t just aesthetic differences between the armors, but gave buffs to defense, attacks, and even resistance to magic as well. Some of these outfits were limited DLC, and some were rewards by being in a test group. Several alternate costumes were even available to replace Kratos during the story mode in Ascension. Of course having a unique library of weapons, and armor wouldn’t mean anything if the combat, and the environments were fun to play.

There were several different types of multiplayer games. Team Favor of the Gods, Capture the Flag, Match of Champions, and Trial of the Gods. They didn’t all necessarily have to be 4 vs 4 battles. They could be enjoyed with smaller groups, against a boss, such as Hercules, or with a one-person wins all challenge. Those that had a score to settle with an online opponent could even call them out in a 1V1 Bout of Honor.

The four main weapons, and five secondary weapons helped make the multiplayer game unique. It allowed audiences to discover what sort of armament, and play style suited them best. Some players were defensive, some preferred magic, and others just threw themselves headfirst into battle. There were certain combinations of armors, and weapons that worked best for them. Players could even switch patronage to a different god if they wanted to explore what special features they offered.

The stages were by far the most impressive thing that Sony Santa Monica delivered for the experience. They contained multiple objectives, traps to spring onto opponents, goals that evolved as the stage progressed, and were layered so that the action was distributed evenly on every corner of the map. Almost every location was a call back to a place that Kratos had visited during his journey. These included several sites from Ascension, such as Archimedes Furnace within the Statue of Apollo, the Streets of Sparta, the Oracle’s Chamber, the Tower at Delphi, the Landing at Delos, the Whirlpool of Alecto, and the Canyons of Kirra.

The other stages were essentially a love letter to the franchise. From GoW III there was the Chamber of the Flame, The Labyrinth of Daedalus, and the Forum of Hercules. We had fought Zeus, Skorpius, and Hercules at each spot respectively. We visited the Desert of Lost Souls, which was featured in the original GoW. It was the place that Cronos had wandered with the Temple of Pandora chained to his back. This time there was an enormous cyclops named Polyphemus (the cyclops from the Odyssey) menacing players from center. There was the Bog of the Forgotten. It was near the Ruins of the Forgotten, and the Temple of Euryale from GoW II. This temple featured the captured body of the giant gorgon Stheno. She was the sister of Medusa, and Euryale. The original stages created for multiplayer were brilliant as well. The Rotunda of Olympus, the Coliseum of Persia, and especially the Walls of Troy. The mythology geek in me absolutely loved the details that were packed in these stages. The Trojan horse, and Statue of Apollo were in the background of Troy, but teams could launch fireballs at both from a catapult in the foreground, and destroy them. The fact that I could revisit these locations again, and again made it feel like the classic GoW experience was infinite. The world of Ancient Greece lived on through these places. The fact that the stages were dynamic, and the teams were unpredictable meant that no tournament was going to be even remotely similar. 

Sony hoped that the multiplayer games, and DLC would continue to generate profit for the franchise. The company had plans to roll out new armor sets, weapons, and stages had Ascension, and the online matches continued to sell. Unfortunately the response from fans, and reviewers was tepid at best. Ascension didn’t sell the units that Sony wanted. Many felt as if the GoW series had just burned out. No matter how well this game was made audiences just didn’t show up in the numbers that Sony required. Which was a shame. In recent years many gamers that stream or have YouTube channels are coming around, and admitting that the multiplayer in Ascension was quite good. Not only that, there is nothing even remotely close to it today. It gave the series life well beyond its release date. 

I can only hope that in the future Sony considers creating a separate GoW adventure, and GoW multiplayer game so that the developers can focus on one thing at a time. That’s me wishing out loud. As amazing as Ascension turned out there was actually much more in the planning stages that was cut. In the next blog we're going to look at the ideas that the studio had developed for a co-op mode. For now I’d like to hear your thoughts on God of War Ascension. Did you play the multiplayer game? Do you think that the GoW series could work as an online multiplayer experience? 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!