LogFAQs > #951509596

Final Analysis: God of War III
What I thought of GoWIII: A very moving game, and one I'll remember for a long time.
Would I play it again? My second playthrough is already underway
Would I nominate it for GotD 2030? Hard to say, but probably.

Every game has a lineage, whether obvious or not. Something like Adventure gave way to The Legend of Zelda which was the main source of inspiration for Symphony of the Night and belongs on its family tree right beside its own series. While it's not quite as important as Nintendo's biggest names, Earthbound has its own happy little family - most of them indie games. Lisa and Undertale are the most well-known examples, and I enjoyed both of those games, so when I found out about their depressive little brother God of War III I didn't hesitate for long on buying it.

Actually, Zelda might be a part of the lineage here too, because God of War III uses that kind of split-world dualism that's so important to Link to the Past or, if you prefer a more obscure example, the H.R. Geiger-backed Darkseid. You start the game as the God of War in his happy-go-lucky dreamworld of Olympus, but the God of War is just a coping mechanism for the real protagonist, Kratos, who is three days away from leaving his hometown of Sparta for good. Lots of things in Olympus are symbolic and almost everything has some counterpart in Sparta, but what's really important is the sense of contrast it creates. Olympus is half dream and half memory: it's a representation of a time when Kratos was happy. The God of War has friends all around him, and he goes on whimsical, straightforward adventures. The Kratos in Sparta has lost people he loves and watched his friends move away from him. He just wants to go back, and I at least found it hard not to feel for him - which itself is essential for all the other fascinating things God of War III's story achieves.

God of War III deals with some pretty heavy themes. Kratos has a lot of guilt to deal with, and he's trying to forgive himself, but does he even deserve to be forgiven? Every story needs balance, though. If it's only depressing and miserable all the time, it stops meaning anything - that's why Grave of the Fireflies is full of scenes where the kids just play and enjoy themselves. More than anything else, God of War III is great at managing that balance. Ultimately, it's a game about healing, and Kratos does not have to do all his healing alone - in fact, he couldn't do it without extensive help from, among others, his friend Athena and her brother Hephaestus.

I think what impresses me most is how effortlessly God of War III made me love its characters. There must be something instructive in it - I think the essence is that it comes up with weird, almost random things, commits to them with a lot of energy and no embarrassment, and never really lets up. All the kids are so earnest, emotional, and charming. They have expressive easily-differentiated personalities and a lot of emotional range. I know it's not just me, either, because this same kind of feeling is expressed in all the parodies and memes that the fans share. Athena seems to be the fan favorite, probably because she's so spontaneous and fun-loving, but I think my favorite character is her brother, who of all the characters is the one I find most admirable.

It's obvious that the story is the stand-out part of God of War III, to the point where it's hard to focus on everything else, but for the record the rest of the game is really good too. The battle system is fun, with the follow-up attacks and emotion system doing a lot to differentiate it from others, and although the overworld graphics are as unimpressive as any other RPG Maker game, the battles and the dialog are full of great drawings by the game's illustrator-turned-director, Stig Asmussen.

One of the most important ideas the Mother games show off is how to unify your gameplay and storytelling. The high points of both Earthbound and Mother 3 are the final boss fights, which are never solved by defeating the enemy the normal way. Instead, they made creative use of RPG mechanics to create some of the most emotionally-charged encounters I've seen in the medium. God of War III learned well in this respect. Later areas are blocked off by fears Kratos will overcome, linking his personal growth the the expansion of the game-world around him, and this game's own final boss is one of my favorite game sequences I've seen in a long time. I can see a more gameplay-focused player not liking God of War III all that much, but as someone who is most interested in games as a young medium of storytelling, I thought this game was special.

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I'm playing every game from GotD 2020! Games Completed: 17/129
Currently Playing: Terraria