God of War 3 Retrospective

[@Demonstormlord]

The reason Hermes' death causes a plague of insects is because Hermes is often wrongly associated with medicine. The most common symbol for Hermes is the Caduceus, a winged rod with two snakes coiled around it. The Caduceus is in turn wrongly associated with medicine, in place of the real symbol, which is the rod of Asclepius. The rod of Asclepius features one snake, and no wings. Either the devs did not know this, which is relatively common, or they chose to go with the popular misconception, because Hermes is more widely known than Asclepius. Using insects as a visual cue is most likely because bacteria aren't really visible to the naked eye, and also because swarms of insects are commonly used as visual short hand for filth and disease.

[@MightyNifty]

Thanks so much! That question was still bugging me, but your reply makes sense, so much appreciated.

[@wakkjobbwizard]

PHILL SHIVELY they are not as important as the others, though I still think they are great games.

[@kennethanthonyoats4386]

@@MightyNifty Hey. The other reason why this occurs is because of the Helios/Apollo switch. While Zeus' conflict with the Pantheon includes mostly the gods, the roster is incorrect. The pantheon excluded Artemis and it also swapped Apollo for Helios, originally a titan. In greek mythology, Helios personifies the sun, such as Gaia personifying mother-earth, while Apollo actually uses its light, but he's also the god of archery, (hence the Bow of Apollo in the Prison of Persithious), medicine, poetry, light, oracles, knowledge, and..... PLAGUES. The death of Apollo would've unleashed a rampant swarm of plagues so deadly, it would've made the plagues of Egypt look like an embarrassing imitation. Hermes' death spawns the swarm because they didn't include Apollo in the game in order to make that abomination emanate from him. That's my takeaway, at least. The first God of War game was standalone, but the sequels decided to recreate the lore in order to transition Kratos from being the god of war to taking down the entire pantheon, hence why their characters change, their voices, and their place in this version of the mythos. (I know the evils from the box is one of the explanations they use, but I, too, felt like this was just a polish to hide the fact that they had to retcon some of the motivations.)

[@knurdyob]

@@MightyNifty I'm not sure if that explanation is the actual the reason. I think the reason his death causes a bunch of flies to burst into the air is just a light hearted poke at the fact that, as the messenger of olympus, he has likely swallowed countless flies while running around so fast. it was just a nice funny way of characterizing his death scene, which I'm not sure has any foundation on greek mythology, but still thought it was pretty neat and entertaining way to make his death standout and affect the world like the other deaths

[@10WTF011]

@@MightyNifty ha, I get it. BUGGING ya.

[@nickalexcage]

I'm pretty sure Hades' willingness to help you in the first game was due to the fact that Krafos hadn't opened the box which later drove the gods insane.

[@romanzupnyk7465]

I always thought that he knew he had no choice due to kratos being the only one allowed to kill ares

[@kianhendriks9073]

I think its because Kratos killed pershefone

[@Splonton]

Krafos moment

[@sorayasayeh9135]

@@kianhendriks9073 do you eat TABONE?

[@kianhendriks9073]

@@sorayasayeh9135 ?

[@SefniAsheforr]

To address your questions about "hope" being a theme and what went into Kratos when he opened the box, it's actually in the mythology itself. In Greek myth Pandora's Jar (has actually been mistranslated to box) was filled with all the evils that would infect mankind, as well as hope. After Pandora opened it and released the evils into the world, she quickly closed it back up before one more thing could escape, hope. They didn't choose the theme of hope arbitrarily. It's a central part of the myth of Pandora's jar and although hope may not seem the perfect theme (you mentioned that of freedom and the huge motif of fatherhood), but I think it fits rather well. When Kratos tries to kills himself at the beginning (and end) of the first game he feels hopeless, always to be haunted by his memories. He has no hope of moving on and feels trapped, thus why he wants the Gods to take away his memories. Hope is essential to forgiving yourself and moving forward, which Kratos most likely never considered an option until he met Pandora (and learned of what was in the box when he opened it). It's not perfect, but I really like how they tied that aspect of the mythology with the conclusion of Kratos' journey.

[@MightyNifty]

Huh, I've read a lot about Greek mythology, but never heard that aspect of the story of Pandora's box, so thank for the lesson. Always cool to learn more. And I see where you're coming from about hope being a potential theme. Thinking back, it might make some sense for Kratos, but given how heavy-handedly the dialogue shoves it down the player's throat I think I found the delivery and use of hope more off putting than the concept itself. Thanks for the insight though! 😁

[@SefniAsheforr]

MightyNifty I agree with that. Pandora's lines themselves felt hamfisted as hell, like the writers were punching our shoulders while yelling "HOPE! IT'S A MAIN THEME". It would have been more impactful to have her say it in passing during a conversation and have it echo to Kratos during his little gameplay journey where he learns to forgive himself. Or better yet, maybe have her say it non-diegetically in his head when Athena communicates the information to him at the end.

[@cyanophilia]

@@MightyNifty Side note (nearly a whole year later), regarding the your ire about Gaia's heart not giving you health orbs, it only does it when it's glowing brightly. Notice how it dims right after Zeus uses it? It can't be used again for a little while, as a matter of fact, it's a sort of "puzzle" during the battles to prevent Zeus from getting to it before you do.

[@ricardomilos3872]

@@MightyNifty another thing with the gods death , with Ares it basically caused a huge explosion and maybe effecting the concept of war but not that much cuz Athena is also a goddess of war , but then the gods fixed the issue by making Kratos the god of war . With Athena's it resulted with erasing the previous timeline where Kratos got stabbed and died according to the interviews but it also doesn't make a whole lot of sense cuz Kratos got back to travel back in time to the great war but maybe it was a whole other timeline, or maybe the temple itself is not bounded by time , but it's overall weird and inconsistent like if Kratos went back in time and took all the titans with him, Zeus then will not be able to punish Cronos and atlas would never try to destroy the Pilar to Olympus which in result will never cost the life of Persephone, but one thing though I have to say is with Kratos in gow2 where you questioned why Kratos didn't go back in time to save himself from the barbarian was because he was not only blinded by revenge but also because of Gaya's influence where she basically kept pushing him through the entirety of Gow2, also his blinded revenge is totally justifiable cuz Zeus not only betrayed him but also destroyed Sparta which he was clearly very pissed about it , also logically if he went back in time and saved himself from the barbarian, he will lose his power and he will be bounded by the gods especially Zeus and Ares which he despises again which will defeat the purpose of his whole schtick

[@TheBlackAdder1964]

Kratos didn't die in the beginning of the game, he just fell into the underworld which the series has established at this is a physical place other than that your criticism of the story is valid

[@keananfrancis8416]

THANK YOU

[@ryanhowe6543]

And that Athena now wants to aid Kratos to kill Zeus which even Kratos questions where that came from, how did he miss that?

[@valletas]

@@ryanhowe6543 he didnt he is just pointing ouf the cahange in character with no explanation other then a plot convenience

[@ryanhowe6543]

But he doesn’t acknowledge that even Kratos questions her change of motivation

[@waltonkromer2702]

Dude. Hades never called kratos out for killing ares, just poseidon, persephone, and athena.

[@domonchief]

Yeah none of the other gods even liked Ares they were all done with his shit by GOW1

[@salahsaleem518]

No shlt in the mythology even zeus his own father hated him

[@Ayyothatsbrandogaming]

@@domonchief yep that’s why they literally helped Kratos get to Ares

[@megahobbit5972]

I feel like the office of God of War is often hated by the others. Its like it has to be filled but no one will like what you do there

[@quintinwright8487]

Exactly

[@atanas2006]

21:23 Well kratos on GoW 1 did say "The gods of olympus have abandoned me, now there is no HOPE" Also hope is indeed the strongest power on the Greek mythology. I would say that they writers did their homework and still managed to do their jobs without making GoW 3's story worse. + I belive it was hard coming up with ideas when GoW 2's story ended on that cliffhanger

[@georgeb3332]

Regarding Hope, this is based on the actual Pandora's myth: Pandora is the first woman in existence according to Greek mythology, and was created by Hephestus under the instructions of Zeus and later on was given as a gift to Epimetheus, the brother of Prometheus. Now the gods at some point entrusted to Epimetheus a box and told him to keep it safe and never open it. The reason behind this was that the box contained all the evils of the world and Epimitheus was the most trustworthy being among all humans or gods. The reason that Zeus ordered the creation of Pandora was to take revenge against Prometheus, who gave the ''Fire'' to humans, so he tried to trick his brother by giving him the fisrt woman in existence as a gift (knowing that Pandora will be seduced by the box and eventually will open it). So what happens is that Pandora indeed opens the box because she hears voices from the spirits inside that tell her how better the world will be if she lets them free, and by doing so, Death, Illness, Senility, Fear and other evils are released. Actually this is how humans became mortals in Greek mythology. However Athena, knowing the plan of Zeus and due to her love for mankind, placed inside the box ''Hope'', as a counter measure in case something like this ever happens. As you can see there is a reason behind the inclusion of ''Hope'' in the game and basically most of the plot elements are coming from greek mythology (one way or another). In any case, nice video man, currently I am playing the latest entry and this video was the best way to refresh a bit the previous games. Great job! I am Greek btw :P

[@jordanwright2313]

My favorite game of the trilogy

[@migueldELLO]

When does Hades ever call him out for killing Ares? He mentions, Poseidon, his wife and Athena but never Ares.

[@ashyflame]

True

[@bandawin18]

Ares was kind of a dick and nobody liked him that much so Hades probably didn't care much

[@elitesoldier501]

9:41 I have to point at that you’re wrong here. It’s clearly shown at the end of the game that all along Athena was using Kratos to wipe out all of Olympus so that she could rule over the world by herself. That’s why she insisted he give her the power of hope so that she could use it to make humanity worship her, hence her saying “They will not know what to do with it” when Kratos releases it to humanity. She never truly cared for Kratos, she saw him as a means to an end and used his rage against him by convincing him to kill Zeus and the rest of the gods her only competition in ruling the world. This is even further evidenced in God of War (2018) when Kratos tells her that he is “her monster no longer”. I mean I don’t know if you weren’t paying attention at the end of the game or what but that’s an unfair criticism

[@jadonmiller9942]

New fan of the series here. I bought the collection a few weeks ago and just finished the third game (spaced out the games of course as I finished this one in 3 days lol) And after I finished each game I came to watch the retrospective as a sort of recap. Just wanted to say how much I enjoyed this series and I'd love to see something similar with metal gear solid personally.

[@MightyNifty]

Oh man, that's definitely on the list! I'd love to try them out (only played 4 so far).

[@jadonmiller9942]

That would be rad as hell

[@Ckoz2829]

I always thought that in the first game the gods had to help Kratos begrudgingly in order to stop Ares from taking over Olympus. Like Zeus told them to and they had to oblige whether they like it or not. At least that’s how I explain away the plot hole.

[@FilthyCasual_YT]

Charlie Koszulinski well it was bc they couldnt kill ares who was there brother they werent allowed to kill each other but when kratos killed ares and got mad and became the new god of war they started to fear him

[@robinanwaldt]

Something that always struck me as odd was that they used the roman name Hercules instead of his greek name Herakles, since, you know.. it‘s Greek Mythology. But I guess they just used the most popular name.

[@dvader518]

Maybe it’s because Kevin Sorbo voices him, in reference to Hercules: The Legendary Journeys.

[@mickeybat5816]

It still fucks me up to this day that his Greek name isn't Hercules

[@cryojudgement2376]

They speak English, in Ancient Greece. Soooo just take it as the story being translated for us modern day dweebs

[@tylerleach1833]

@@cryojudgement2376 Except Hercules is the Roman counterpart of Heracles. I'm pretty sure ancient Rome didn't speak modern English either.

[@TevyaSmolka]

also i recommend covering god of war ghost of sparta because that game is really good in my opinion and a really great prequel in my opinion

[@nemeru3352]

It makes Kratos more understandble in 2 and 3.

[@johndough6225]

Minor nitpick at 46:00, Gaia's heart glows and she gives an audio cue when it's ready to be attacked for health orbs.

[@Zubatticus]

I'm pretty sure Kratos is the Kenny of video games. Good callouts on the story's inconsistencies. I didn't catch them at first on my playthrough to be honest. Also, I feel like freedom would have a been a better gift to mankind than hope. That would at least make more sense with Kratos killing all the gods. Good video!

[@MightyNifty]

Lmao "Oh my gods, you killed Kratos! You bastards!" And yeah, that would be been a good idea.

[@superpe]

Damn it's crazy how well the graphics holds up, amazing

[@osurac1880]

I don't really ever view "hope" in this game as cheesy, as its a literal representation of the concept of hope. These characters are so strong, that were messing with actual concepts like hope and fear.

[@jhorkey626]

So about a year and half ago, I went back to play this game and decided to finally beat it on Chaos difficulty. All of the bosses were appropriately tough, and it didn’t take me more than hour to learn all of their patterns and how to effectively defeat them. That is, until I got to the Cerberus fight upon returning to the underworld. Holy hell, it took me 2 days to beat that guy. Still the hardest challenge I’ve faced as someone who plays games for fun, and I platinumed Bloodborne! Anyway, really enjoyed the video man, as well as your retrospective on the entire GOW series, keep up the good work!

[@sk-saleh4611]

Your so brave to show stuff like that, not afraid of being demonetized but needed to prove a good point! I admire that

[@chambeet]

The Scorpion Queen was one of the hardest fights in the game. I’m amazed the narrator had such an easy time with her. I got stuck on my first playthrough on her for months (on Titan).

[@vesselinkrastev]

28:38 Perhaps you were playing on PS4 but this game does not get anywhere near 60fps on the PS3. Most of the time it's running between 30 and 40 actually. In fact, it kinda makes you wonder why they didn't just cap it at 30. Though, I suppose that the performance was about on par with the previous two games on PS2 and the standards were different back then. All of these games were very impressive in their time, don't get me wrong.

[@amin2636]

I really like your reviews on games You point out the games flaws without taking away what it does right and say what it does right without making it seem that it doesnt have any flaws Most video game reviewers fall into two categorys They either love the game and they ignore its flaws,or they hate the game without even praising what it does right You fall somewhere in the middle which i appreciate

[@DragonSageKaimus]

The plagues signify how since there is no one to send messages of gods, many plagues that could have been prevented are not stopped early enough.

[@NRB10ful]

When I first played it I thought the ending had a different meaning. I though it was about Kratos getting his revenge and with no one left to go after, realizing the damage and suffering his single-mindedness causes. It's all kratos's fault, the death of his family, Zeus killing him, and the deaths of millions of people. And Kratos kills himself to rid the world of him. That's what I thought the ending was at first

[@miguelbranquinho7235]

Yeah, I think the "Hope" thing really ticked him off, and blinded him to the actual meaning of the ending, and the story in general.

[@lungtoo1525]

This definitely deserves more views keep up the good work

[@nemeru3352]

The reason for Athena's turn to the dark side, which i got from the wiki, is that she was infected by the sin of greed, stored inside of pandora's box.Never stated, but its a fine reading. Now why is it that she's the only god that lives after death? no fucking idea. And the whole pandora's box overwriting Zeus's will, weakenss he's whole character, cuz its not really him, but a infected one which feared Kratos. And even after being consumed by evil, Zeus is still a better fucking guy then the main character, who's possessed by "HOPE". Truly hilarious writing'

[@MightyNifty]

Lmfao yeah, originally I had like 2 more pages dedicated strictly to the plot holes, but cut it because the story segment was already like 15 minutes long. It's like they didn't care!

[@nemeru3352]

The messy narrative at least fits with Kratos being a agent of Chaos i guess. And now greek myth has a conclusion like norse myth does,

[@kokujinblack77]

zeus wasn't infected really, he went from slightly paranoid to extremely paranoid, and in this paranoia he uhh did some very questionable things, zeus did like to torture people you know the titans and the guy brought mankind fire and all that. i think the idea of hope for kratos is ridiculous but i mean he fucking frees an entire country from the clutches of oppressive and paranoid gods he definitely wasn't trying to help other people but it just kinda turned out like that.

[@nemeru3352]

@@Badman-o0o nice joke man

[@MightyNifty]

I'll chime in on this. Nemeru is right because in destroying the Greek gods, Kratos doomed all of Greece. Floods, no sunlight, souls wreaking havoc, etc. The gods were bad, but Kratos killed them and did to thousands of innocent people what that gods did to him. Top that off with the unironic use of "soy dad" and you sound like a joke. Making a character evolve is not a bad thing, particularly when you show the inspiration for that desire to change. And the phrase "soy boy" is usually only used by people who are stupid enough to think men being sensitive, patient, and respectful is a sign of weakness. The kind of people who believe in debunked theories like 'betas' and 'alphas'. Etc. Does that explain things?

[@khalidbashir4017]

7:04 i swear Kratos pulling Poseidon out is the most awesome sh^t i ever seen in any game and it is stuck with me forever 🥹

[@megahobbit5972]

So Ill add this about the Gods death. With Athena and Ares both caused an explosion enough to level a country (size is iffy) It is mostly due to what these gods had for a so called job. Hades being the lord of the underworld kept the souls in check his death let them loose Poseidon kept the sea in check so his death caused it to be uncontrollable Helios being THE SUN means his death removes that. Hermes with the plague and missconception someone mentioned already Hera the flora Zeus death only made the thunderstorms more common. With both greek myths athena and ares are both gods of war of different aspects Athena of wisdom Ares of War so they did not do either that destroyed mankind Unless war became more common with ares gone.

[@WhatsUpFella]

Excellent video. I’m glad you didn’t take the moral busybody stance on the sexuality in these games. I’ve always found it hypocritical that some critics take issue with the consensual sex acts as “problematic” but are perfectly fine with the glorification of violence. This seems to be more of American Puritan sensibilities seeping into games criticism but your honest and nuanced take was refreshing. Of course there is reasonable and welcomed criticisms of female portrayal in games and it’s great to be open about that, but we all know that God of War doesn’t take these sequences seriously enough for that sort of analysis as you stated. On your point about not showing male genitals, I think it’s the same reason they don’t show female genitals. Breasts are of course sexual based on evolutionary desires to find appropriate mates to feed your children, but penis and vaginas are seen as much more gratuitous. Having those throughout the game could have brought the rating to an AO. I guess the developers treat breast’s on women the same way they treat abs on men.

[@MightyNifty]

I agree to an extent, but given how penises are shown in Dante's Inferno and GTA IV, I'd think it's possible to have them without an AO rating. Though you're probably right in that the devs wouldn't want to risk it even if it was part of their creative vision.

[@pyromania1018]

My guess, regarding the story, is that Athena was really the manifestation of Greed taking on her form and manipulating his blind rage to make him do her bidding. I'm pretty sure Athena got infected by the box, too (hence why the gods turned against Kratos after the first game), but was able to control it at first. Alternatively, she came back, but now embraced her greed.

[@aaronpitts9027]

Jsyk, 3 years later, I’m still plugging away. You did a great job man.

[@brettthebest3978]

Kratos did not die when he was falling, he just fell all the way down to hades, in Greek myth u could just dig down to hades, it’s true

[@Roge9]

"AAAARRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!" -Gaia

[@tomverstappendrums3423]

Yo that big scorpion bossfight gave me HUGE trouble on the hardest difficulty. Some of those normal mob fights too, I feel like every encounter was tightly designed to be just manageable

[@castjet9898]

God Of War did had many frame drops on the PS3, it basically runs between 40 to 35 frames ant it only reaches 60 in less demanding exploration sequences. It does run at a higher 60 FPS on the PS4.

[@nemeru3352]

Huh, Wow, i would have thought such a game would be capt at 30 frames on the ps3.

[@bartholen]

On the story and the ending: God of War 3 has one of my favorite video game endings ever, possibly even the #1 favorite. Yes, the theme of hope is hamfisted and corny, but it makes sense within the mythology. This seems to be a contentious topic, but I think it's pretty obvious: in the end Kratos _rejects_ hope. He's not brought over by talk about humanity being free from the gods, he doesn't feel relief or redemption, or any kind of catharsis at all. His only realization is that he's brought nothing but ruin to everything, and in the process lost the one thing that kept him walking. I don't think it could be any more obvious than the lines "All I remember is what I have lost" and "I hope for nothing" from one of the trailers. His last act alive is a giant middle finger to Athena, not any kind of "power to the people" act. To this day I've never seen an ending so bitter and downbeat to a game (save for maybe Spec Ops: The Line), especially a giant AAA conclusion to a trilogy. The last shot ties it beautifully back to the very first game's beginning. Athena is not meant to be a righteous angel like figure, but a manipulator. Her voice actress even says it in one of the BTS videos. However, this is pretty poorly communicated in the story except for the very ending, and in the process makes it one of the story's weak links. Also Hades' behavior has a justification (albeit a flimsy one) in Kratos having released the plague of fear on the gods when he opened the box in the first game. A way more obvious answer is that the first one was a far more arcade-y game where Hades was just a well known greek god to grant Kratos power, and the writers probably didn't think of it any more than that. One very odd thing about the story is how they reference the PSP prequel Ghost of Sparta multiple times, sometimes at very important moments, despite it not having even been out yet.

[@miguelbranquinho7235]

"Poorly communicated" or subtle? Who knows anymore, huh?

[@Thatguyy002]

Well I definitely think it has the best start of any video game...

[@Grivian]

@@miguelbranquinho7235 It was so not subtle. It was obvious very early on that Athena had another agenda

[@SokinRidis]

Correction...Kratos didnt die when he falls from Olympus...he just felt to the underworld...Olympus and the Underworld its connected...you can see it also ingame in a picture... About equality..wtf man? this is a 2010 game...feminism isnt the 1st thing in games...

[@clix8100]

49:10 spitting those lyrics I see

[@WanderfromSOTC]

Great video,enjoyed every bit of it,was surprised you didn't have as many views as I thought you would.I am subscribing and hoping to see many more great videos.

[@dominiqueodom3099]

I personally think the biggest missed opportunities in The Greek Era of God of War is not having Artemis or Apollo show up as Antagonists. The Concept Art of Artemis being Half Lioness sorta like the Centaur legs is pretty dope and the idea of The Goddess of the Hunt being unused in the Series is such a missed opportunity,especially with her Relationship with Apollo. Apollo as well shouldve made an Appearance,especially since Helios was killed rather easily and we deserved a Battle against the true God of the Sun.

[@peredhilh3444]

This video totally won me over with the mention of Hercules being the best Disney film. I can't play these games without being reminded of that film in some way.

[@jordanwright2313]

Still my favorite game of the original trilogy, story and gameplay are top notch

[@exhileris4k857]

I beleive the reason why at least 6 of the gods deaths caused natural disasters is because they were infected by the evils of the box when it was first opened in GOW 1. And taking form when they died by the hands of kratos. While u could argue that the same should have been the case for hercules, he is a demi god, and only saw things one sided. And kratos not using the golden fleece to deflect zeus's bolt, it can be argued that even that had its limits, considering that it couldn't even deflect zues's thunderbolt from the first game when he was large in the beginning of the boss fight, including the cyclops attacks as well. The blade olympus argument tho is a tricky one, considering that kratos was able to peirce it in zeus from the second game, but it may be implied that the evil from the box plus the fact that beating zeus would have been impossible without the weapons he had aquired, and even when he did he still came back as a higher being temporarily to infect kratos with that same fear and sorrow only to be defeated by the implicit powers of a god (aka hope) that he had regained in his psyche.

[@BlackSheepVidya]

Fantastic conclusion to the series of episodes! Stoked to see your take on the newest iteration (when you are able), too. And if you were to do another retrospective, i’d love to see one on the Uncharted series. -Ratter Tatter

[@MightyNifty]

Thanks! And Uncharted would be so much fun to do! That's definitely going on the list. :D

[@ryanhowe5595]

9:42 Kratos asked about the sudden change, and I think Athena was being intentionally vague

[@MallyMcAlli]

Your pointing out the weirdness about Athena just strengthens my idea that Athena is the one orchestrating everything and she is truly the source of Kratos' suffering lol

[@DanielJohnson-cy1dw]

Excellent work, man. Very well done! Valid points that I honestly had never considered when playing GoW3! Great editing, great informative exposition and thoughts/reviews, great peppered humor.....just a fantastic and professional job!!!! You'll most likely have your hands full with all the previous Retrospective Requests, but if you get a chance, could you possibly do the PS1 classic "Medievil" series? (1 and 2......PsP one is...meh...) Also, in light of a new Battletoads game coming out, I would LOVE to hear your take on the NES gauntlet that is Battletoads! :) Ya got another subscriber, dude!!! Keep up the good work!

[@robertminnie782]

46:03 I also struggled with the Gaia's heart phase for a good while (I played the game on Hard the first time, like I did with a lot of the others.) I eventually realised that the trick to stealing life from the heart is to look for when it lights up, and then beat Zeus to it before *he* heals himself. Otherwise, I died way too many times to that phase because of the clones, and also just how hard and fast he hits, with so many moves... (I'd say that Ares is probably still the hardest boss all-in-all for me. Fighting that spidery bastard on Hard was a nightmare lmao. But Zeus was close. Took me almost a night, while Ares took two.)

[@KTChamberlain]

In regards to Hope becoming a theme/plot device is something I have no issue with it. There are two reasons why I don't take issue with this: Number 1, hope was the moral to the myth of Pandora's Box to begin with, so when it was brought up again, I knew it was gonna come into play, being someone who's well-versed in Greek mythology. Number 2, hope being what leads to Kratos's character growth is very similar to Achilles in The Iliad. In The Iliad, Achilles is very angry with Agamemnon, and then he becomes angrier with Hector for having killed his lover Patroclus, and even though he got his revenge, he finds no rest, but when Priam pleads with him for Hector's body he lets his anger go and grants Priam this small mercy, despite being enemies. Compassion came into play for a Greek hero defined by wrath and pettiness. It's not too much of stretch to apply this to Kratos with hope.

[@sturmraist50]

Huge fan of your videos. I've been watching them for weeks now. Fantastic. Think you might ever want to do retrospectives on the Splinter Cell series? I loved all those games.

[@MightyNifty]

Thanks! And yeah, splinter hadn't even crossed my mind, but it's definitely on the list now 😁

[@sturmraist50]

Fantastic, thank you! Yeah, I love the long-form videos. Really gives you time to get into everything. Please keep up the amazing work!

[@TheTrueHolyDarkness]

Hope. Hope for what? Forgiveness? I think if they created more scenes establishing that Kratos subconsciously _hopes_ for forgiveness out of all this, things would've flowed better. They could've also built up the angry-abandoned child angle a bit. Like, it was clear why Kratos wanted vengeance on Ares. But why Kratos is even madder at Zeus when Zeus was simply stopping him from conquering all of Greece was always a headscratcher for me. If they emphasized that this was more about daddy issues for Kratos, it would've not only made more sense, but thematically, flowed better into GoW4. Good catch by the way on the plague thing happening only with select Gods. I figured nothing bad happened with Ares because Kratos took his place. By why didn't plagues happen with other Gods killed in the series? I don't know. They should really tell us. Maybe use the Sword of Olympus as an excuse or something.

[@olofacosta3192]

Also noticed how unreasonably angry Kratos was with Zeus. Also didn't like the whole "evils corrupting the gods" subplot. Really made the story very one sided and generic. Would've been better if you could see from both Zeus and Kratos perspective instead of "oh man Kratos is literally destroying the world. I know! Let's come up with an excuse to make him more badass because the fans don't already get it".

[@srmelancia3523]

Zeus literally turned kratos mom into a monster

[@learningftw8173]

One thing is sometimes your description seems quite unforgiving, when you play the game in the hardest mode the fights feel much different and you need to really figure out which combination and order of powers should be used for maximmum efficiency.

[@audricburris1487]

I actually found each weapon (except for Hades Claws) unique-ish with strengths and weaknesses. The Nemesis Whip is the best for crowd control with most of its attacks throwing either weaker enemies in the air, or getting Kratos at a safe spot against bigger foes, however, this isn't very important unless your in a higher difficulty setting. The Cestus was already covered in detail, but it's got the highest DPS in the game, though the lack of range can let Kratos easily get consumed by the army of enemies And the blades of exile (which I really wish weren't a thing, as it's just the blades of chaos with a new design, and had no significance to the story like the blades of Athena) is kind of the best of both worlds. It does crowd control well (but not the best) and it has the safest and best magic ability Also, again, there is NO defense for the purple Claws to be in the game other than they look cool. Their slot should have been replaced by the Sword of Olympus, and the "Spartan" rage should have just super buffed the weapon that's currently equipped. Beyond all that, liked the video and ur thoughtful critique of the game

[@opornogeros]

Nemesis Whip is awesome and underappreciated

[@ghhn4505]

19:51 To be fair, Ares and Athena DO release... Something, upon death. Ares is implied to release a nuke, or at least a massive explosion. Sure, not a "plague upon the world," but had it been in a major area it would have caused death and destruction on a massive scale. Athena explodes into some sort of green light when she dies, it's never explained what it is but I always figured it was plague of ignorance or something since she's the Goddess of Wisdom.

[@andrewmah2962]

"Oh, I had to let go of the button." 🤣

[@MadDragonify]

Honestly even after the release of Ragnarok this is the best GoW game by a mile

[@Flipitmixit]

You're supposed to stop Zeus from healing himself when the heart opens and then take that opportunity to get some health for yourself

[@bearieroblox6451]

One big problem with Athena is why is she the only person in the whole series to go to a higher plane after death? Also technically she and areas would be alive since he’s back in time.

[@OmegaPlato]

Zeus did the same thing. Athena was his favourite so he probably thought her how to do it.

[@scarytruths01]

I found that at the last battle with zues at the end where Kratos is beating the crap out of zues you can keep pressing O even after the screen terns red the quick time event won't automatically stop till you stop pressing O so it kinda gives you control of when you want to stop beating up zues

[@kagomodise4008]

I happened to pause at 22:43 and the frame is hilarious.

[@Fedor_Kisliakov]

To me, the biggest stupidity in this plot is the drama around Pandora's sacrifice when Kratos could have just thrown Zeus into the flame. It's supposed to be deadly for mortals and gods alike.

[@dvader518]

15:13 To anyone wondering, Poseidon sexually assaulted her so then Minerva/Athena punished her by changing her hair into snakes. In other words, Athena engaged in victim blaming.

[@migueldELLO]

Also Kratos didn't die in 3, he fell all the way down to hades.

[@ctjennings1493]

THANK YOU

[@tylersmith3139]

I think he's generally referring to how Kratos always reboots his power in the sequels, which they kind of have to because of how overpowered Kratos is at the end of every game. It would have been too easy to play as Kratos as the God of War in GOW2 or playing as a fully maxed out Kratos from the beginning.

[@Grivian]

One thing about the Zeus fight. Now I agree that it was frustrating, but only because at first I didn't know what I was doing and I was playing badly. I'm guessing you played on easy/normal difficulty where you can win the fight without needing to adjust your strategy. I played on hard and didn't realize that I could get health from the heart. I experimented with weapons until I realized that the whip was the best, placed myself close to the heart to beat Zeus to it always. But even so it is not hard to do that. The heart lights up when you can get health and Zeus is helpful enough to prepare for 5 seconds before the goes for the health. Easy to get it all, especially with the whip.

[@RRNumber4]

To me Number 1 had the story number 2 had the combat and number 3…Had Everything!!!! I was sooo hyped for this game’s release and it is easily the most advanced adventurous game out of the 3 it was so fun so different and man just the best this is one of the best video game franchises in history and holds a special place in my all time video games list gow forever !!! One of the best games ever

[@Grivian]

Hear hear

[@prathamraina9445]

loved the series. the games and your perspective just makes it better. for the next series, uncharted or tomb raider maybe?

[@INKY_627]

This by far my absolute favourite of the original trilogy

[@KicktheSky34]

Just gonna address your critique of Kratos's motivation to seek the flame, 4 years on: He actually did NOT defeat Zeus outright in 2. If you remember, Kratos had to pretend to surrender in order for Zeus to let down his guard for Kratos to stab him him with the Blade of Olympus. That's not the sort of tactic that works twice and whatever advantage the Titans might have brought to their next fight was lost when Gaia let him fall. So it's perfectly reasonable for Kratos to seek out a new power. You're not wrong about Athena though. Unless dying was some kind of 5D chess move on her part, her abrupt shift in motivation makes very little sense and it probably would've been better if she'd stayed gone. Story-wise, Kratos could've learned about the flame from someone else, such as Hephestus. On the flip side, having Athena remain a player in this game allowed us to have the awesome cameo in GoW 2018.

[@rodgercampo5332]

35:15 You know this guy hasn't played on higher difficulties lol, the serpent soul is mandatory for the last part of the game with the cerberus and satyrs. Using the serpent to instantly tell the satyrs to fuck off makes the fight more bearable.

[@querneu3783]

Hermes is the god of medicine too, so plague being brought upon the greek world makes sense since he's not the "healer" anymore

[@glioblastome]

The link between Hermes's death and the begining of the plague probably comes fromthe assumption that he is somewhat the god of medecine (which he isnot, its Asklepios) because of "Hermes's Caduceus"

[@d_marv3lous237]

Hold up, hold up, it's implied the reason that Athena helped kratos kill Zeus is because in dying, she found out about Zeus being overridden with fear and realized that he was unfit to be ruler of Olympus, all right carry on...

[@d_marv3lous237]

P.S. I think you missed the fact that Kratos opening Pandora's box the first time released fear which contaminated the gods and caused them to go paranoid and attack kratos

[@Drums_of_Liberation]

It's also heavily impled that Athena was also infected by one the other evils within the box so she didn't turn on Zeus out of the goodness of her heart.

[@renmorpheus]

Great and fair review, it is worth to play for the graphics, conclusion of the story and bosses, but it wasn’t the huge jump than 1 to 2 was, which is why I understand GoW 2018 was so different- change was needed to not let the franchise get stale.

[@thisisacallforhelp3484]

Haven’t really seen anyone acknowledge this, but even if it would be for historical accuracy, exposed penis is usually seen as far more sexual and far more inappropriate than the occasional exposed breast. If the devs were to design male characters with exposed genitals the games would likely be rated AO or be banned in several locations. Is it stupid, pointless and ridiculous? Yup. But sometimes there’s just no workaround.

[@jbquigley2010]

My dude, did you put a Hot Fuzz, Return of the King and a Portal reference in the same video? Impeccable taste 👌

[@errorshadow4731]

Amazing vid bro

[@kaiber0390]

The "Why there's no dick if there's boobs" really isn't too much of an argument. There's no dick in the game for the same reason there isn't pussy. On a perverted/erotic scale the two are just higher on the tier list.

[@groovstoov4717]

You should have mentioned that Hercules in this game is voiced by KEVIN SORBO.

[@TheKeithvidz]

you're too critical of certain bosses - kronos was epic. That messenger ought to have been tougher.

[@Grivian]

He is too critical in general. Most of his points are inaccurate or unfair. But maybe he does that to every game

[@TheKeithvidz]

@@Grivian Not like his opinion counts in the overall public perception.

[@Grivian]

@@TheKeithvidz Yep. Not in the slightest. I almost turned off the video when he was simping about misogyny and equality, not realizing the audience of these games. But I was out for a run so I continued with the video. I disagreed with most of his points

[@TheKeithvidz]

@@Grivian He got carried away, misinterpreted the content. Kratos is fueled by vengeance and all else drips from that.

[@MrShant-ui9ht]

Kronos wasnt a boss

[@sibusisovilakazi2825]

TC Carson is low-key the 2Pac of video game voice actors

[@nicoloreynolds4979]

I know this is an old vid but I don't see anyone point it out in the comments but the game definitely does a brief overview of the story for newcomers in the very beginning, I played this game before I beat gow2 and it spoiled Athena being killed and zeus boss fight for me

[@AgeOfDanarchy]

Dude are you crazy? You said having sex with Aphrodite is setting the bar low??? I’m gonna need you to explain this when in lore she’s the most beautiful thing to exist and literally represents love and sex. What’s setting the bar high?

[@sergeantwombat]

My man doesnt die in god of war 3... he just falls a long ass way haha

[@bengough6772]

I have never been more hyped and excited for a game ever.... I was also sadly disappointed even though its a great game, nothing could live up to what I wanted and Kratos by the end was unlikeable But God of war 2018 came out and i became both shocked at how much I loved it, how much I cared about Kratos And How much better god of war 3 now stands given how god of war 2018 follows from it. Kratos is supposed to end as an evil ass hole consumed by rage... And as an older dad in 2018 finally grows and, knowing what happened in his youth actually made 2018 more emotional for me. My hero as a young man was an evil murderer who let me dow And became my hero again as a dad as a dad And now i really wanna play 123 and 2018 back to back lol

[@carrot7215]

I do agree with one thing: Aphrodite's QTE is for tension relieving

[@aureliohernandez4948]

The story had a lot of plots that really did make me question the story more, but other then I believe the game was a 8/10. The opening with riding Gaia while battling Poseidon was epic, the gore was as good as the first two games. It had some parts where it was getting repetitive back tracking between the labyrinth and the flame of Olympus. Weapon variety and with each having its own magic attack was a nice addition on the developers part. The story was the only thing that threw me off , furthermore aside from everything else. GOW3 is in my top 3 but it could’ve been alot better

[@dioshoes9096]

hades is angry about poseidon.... not ares I really don't know why you think that. He never says the name ''Ares'' in the entire game

[@theprodigalson4003]

13:15 Helios flies and he’s fast, locusts or flies fly and they’re fast. I don’t know seemed like the way he was skating across the sky it seemed a pretty ample comparison to a swarm of insects, I mean we are implying that with every desth Kratos brings more rot and destruction to the Greek world. I guess since Poseidon was water, Helios had to be soemthing else. Even when Kratos snaps that woman’s neckC I don’t remeber her name but the garden withers up to imply what you just did was very bad

[@e3mitchell23]

You should do Ratchet and Clank or Uncharted

[@MightyNifty]

Uncharted is on the list! 😁 Ratchet would be fun, but that's a looooot of games so we'll have to see lol

[@e3mitchell23]

What about Sly Cooper? There were only 4 mainline games, a trilogy then one more that came alot later. I don't see Sly get nearly as much attention now as does Jak and Ratchet even though it was very popular at the same time as them

[@MightyNifty]

That's a possibility. I love Jak though so he may come first. Either way, I definitely need a bit more time before hopping into another retrospective, so it'll hopefully be big when I do.

[@mersunarytigre]

Regarding Hermes unleashing a plague of insects, I recall reading on an old God of War wiki stating that it is a reference to the God of War comic where Hermes placed a disease on Kratos' daughter just for the sake of entertainment, which is what set him to fight the Barbarians as Kratos and the Barbarians were fighting over the Ambrosia, which would cure all types of diseases. It's a wonky explanation but whatever

[@piramidedigiza9757]

It was Ares that cursed Kratos daughter, the gods (Ares, Hades, Hermes, Artemide, Poseidon and Helios) waged a bet on who of their respective champion would retrieve the ambrosia (Comic: Wager of the Gods)

[@kameprod5000]

Ragnorak is cool, but looking back the scale of this game is just unbeatable.

[@howielowis458]

Both you and Zeus can regain health from Gaja's heart whenever it is glowing. I thought that was obvious. I agree with almost everything else, tho and overall i feel like GOW3 hits some of the lowest AND highest spots in the series. For me personally it stands on par with the first two titles.

[@Elake_Simon]

Kratos fell off Gaia because she shook him off. He wasn't expecting that, so he had no time to grab a tree or something.

[@juanborja688]

So at 13:03 it shows the bugs but it happens at heras death at 17:05

[@frogglen6350]

15:44 To answer your question, it's because the game provides no opportunity or reason to show male genitalia. Aphrodite makes sense being nude as she is the goddess of love and beauty.

[@ycarusgamer5187]

Incredible game for season has aged very well in recent years It would be amazing if there were others Gods In this third game like: Hypnos,Demeter,Dionysus,Apollo,Artemis,Eros,Eris,Íris and Hestia with the grandchildrens of Zeus what could have been added to the game like: Triton,Hecate,Asclepius,Orpheus,Macaria and Melinoe since they are Sons of Apollo,Hestia,Hades and Poseidon another thing that also Ares,Aphrodite,Hephaestus & Athena they also have Childrens too It's a shame that these Characters/Gods didn't appear in the game who knows in the future.. I believe there could still be two games of the Greek Mythology to close the saga and in the current games of Norse Mythology what is now happening in this new saga and mythology there would be a lot to do with more two games a sixth game and the origin game with many story dlcs especially in the Ragnarok that I definitely believe surely there will be more and a curiosity: we almost had a fight against Echidna the mother of all Demons and Creatures of the Greek mythology a shame it was cut and it would have been a fight on behind the Gaia's back in a forest certainly at the beginning of the game from this third game and we almost had the NPC Ixion as one of the puzzles in the underworld in the game that he would die in one of the traps that we would try to uncover to pass the level that was cut very sad that it didn't happen.. and all these things and Gods with yours Childrens/DemiGods was cut from the final version content and they were not added/placed in the game.. 🤔🥺🤧🙏🙏 like and Bye!

[@DecayingReverie]

I really loved God of War 3. 2 is still my favorite of the old games, but 3 is a close second. I guess I didn't have as much issue with the story as you. I come away with the feeling of an epic battle fueled by the rage of revenge. I like the motif of fatherhood, though I think is only so resonant to me because of a) God of War 2018 and Ragnarok and b) these were the only series of game my dad ever played with me. He watched me game, but this and Dante's Inferno were the only ones he thought looked like something he would enjoy so we had a good bonding experiencing playing these over and over. I thought the weapons were a bit more fun than any of the other games. I like the variety of locations. The boss battles were epic and I enjoyed them, but they didn't have quite the mechanical satisfaction as God of War 2 except for maybe Kronos. I thought that was just an incredible fight with the scale of it. The boss fights were okay, but many of them were basically the same thing. I loved this game overall and and I feel like 2 and 3 are still great games. THe first felt dated to me. The prequels are decent. Chains of Olympus is a lot better than Ghost of Sparta to me. Of course, we know God of War Betrayal is the obvious choice for best game in the series.

[@bearieroblox6451]

The hope thing isn’t actually that bad, it ties into when kratos tried killing himself at the beginning of the first game when he said he had no hope, showing the stark contrast, you can see in chains of Olympus when he tells atlas the gods is all he has as that was his last hope until they proved him wrong.