this post was submitted on 18 Dec 2023
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Despite being nominated for numerous awards and even winning Game of the Year in 2018, the creator of God of War, David Jaffe, is not a huge fan of the new direction the series has gone in. Jaffe himself hasn't worked on these new God of War games, but thinks that they're not staying true to the spirit of the character and the franchise. The creator noted that if developers want to pour their life experiences into their work, they should do it with new IPs and characters.

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[–] [email protected] 36 points 9 months ago (4 children)

As someone who has played from the beginning, and seen the entire storyline unfold through the multiple directors, I was so disappointed......in nothing absolutely at all whatsoever about the new games.

I thought it was really cool how they stitched the story back to GoW3 and developed the new character so thoughtfully. Christopher Judge seemed to take the character much further while adding depth, and being thoughtful too.

If Jaffe doesn't like that Kratos isn't a mindless rage machine, different strokes I guess. He's definitely in the minority and I think every subsequent game director did an overall better job than he did in GoW 1. *shrug

[–] [email protected] 17 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Parts of 2018 and Ragnarok and the ending of both actually had me tear up a bit, not many games accomplish that. It was very heartfelt and emotional I enjoyed seeing a proper character arc for Kratos and his kid and watching them develop.

I also really liked the themes of redemption and trying to be better not just for yourself, but for the people around you, I liked that Kratos has to reflect on his actions and actually come to terms with how he was for all intents and purposes, a monster.

I liked that even enemies where made more complex and given good character arcs. 2018 and Ragnarok are so well done and I love them. The old GoW trilogy was also fun and had good writing in it's own merit and direction, but the new games are something else entirely in a good way and I vastly prefer the character and relationship focused writing in the newer games.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

Sounds like Jaffe does not akree

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[–] [email protected] 31 points 9 months ago (3 children)

Something about the new games that really bothered me was how it handled puzzle rooms. You'd walk into a room and start to look around then your kid would yell out "hey I think we should shoot that target up there which should knock down this bridge for us". Golly thanks, guess I won't get to attempt to figure things out myself then. I pretty much fell off about 10 hours into the first one because I found that so frustrating. Does that go away after a while?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 9 months ago

Not from what I've read elsewhere.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago

I can't think of any times he did that when I played. Most things I either figured out right away or missed quickly. I went backtracking while he was in his rebellious phase and he was mostly useless as a tutorial prompt. Any scenes out of order that required him to be cheery made him seem mentally unstable too.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

Yeah, while I personally really enjoyed both new games, I can understand not liking the way the gameplay went. However, I think Kratos' story is a perfect evolution for the character, so I cannot really understand his opinion there

[–] [email protected] 18 points 9 months ago

I'm pretty sure this is less about the quality of the game and more about ppl working on his creation without him. You can see this a lot in comic books

Creators will be pissed that ownership has continued work on something they created without them.

Pretty much why Allen Moore hates comics so much. Or even why John McAfee hated his anti virus program.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I mean, I too would be unhappy with the new games' stories. They're not very good stories overall.

But, they're better than the vast majority of video game plots, because that's a low bar.

Still, Jaffe seems to imply the old stories in GoW were any better, when they were pure drivel. I might still be very underwhelmed by the story in the two new God of War's, but I at least like that they're trying (even if I think the direction of relying heavily on animation and visual flair is the wrong one, as far as telling good stories goes).

[–] [email protected] 12 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Jaffe always struck me as a perpetual adolescent. The two GoW games he worked on were great for the time, but the stories were shallow excuses to showcase as much gore as possible. His other big property, Twisted Metal, was genre-defining gameplay but any narrative was just edgelord violence and/or crass humor.

The last "big" project I remember coming down the pipe from him was Drawn to Death, which took his signature juvenile tastes and combined them with horrible gameplay and eye-blistering art direction. As far as I'm aware, he hasn't worked on a game since.

I'm not saying the new GoW games are perfect, but I wouldn't say Jaffe has a trusted critical eye.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 9 months ago

I played about 3 hours of 2018, and my honest opinion is that the story was kind of interesting, but the gameplay was slow and clunky. The most fun I had with my time was the fight in the beginning with Baldur, and most of it was a cutscene. I prefer the gameplay and fluidity of combat in the original trilogy, which I have beaten, to this new version. With that being said, it's still a good game, just not my cup of tea.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 9 months ago

Could the author have packed any more bias into the article? Like, we get it. You like the new games.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 9 months ago

His tone, the way he mocks other creators, comes off as (for lack of a better term) developmentally stunted. I understand if you disagree with the product because your vision is different, but the way he expresses it is so reductive that it's hard to see his points as valid beyond his feelings.

With that being said, It's been awhile since I've seen David Jaffe and he's kinda got a "We've got Dan Harmon at home" vibe about him now.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 9 months ago

Went and watched the original.

Seems like he just doesn't like the direction and it's a 'different strokes for different folks' kind of thing. I think his point about Ragnarok is fair, the writing is a bit all over the place and that can make characterization suffer.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago (4 children)

Welp. I don't know what to say other than he's the creator and he's completely wrong.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago (1 children)

David Jaffe is kind of a nut these days though. Like what has he done in recent years?

[–] [email protected] 17 points 9 months ago (4 children)

The last thing I saw regarding him was him being unable to comprehend how secret rooms in Metroid work. It was painful.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago

Brutal. He's so wrong and he has no idea.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago

Hahahahah. Thank you for this.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

Which is something super common in Metroid too.
Hell he probably hasn't figured out you can shoot up and just tries to jump to fire horizontally at enemies instead.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

You can't even chalk this up to an old man not understanding how modern games are played, either. The OG Metroid on the NES had blocks you could break by shooting upward. He's just an idiot.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I mean he directed God of war and twisted metal. He knew what was up back then.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

Apparently not, since he doesn't even attempt it here.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Well he can fuck right off, God of War 2018 was amazing

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago

meh. I played the first and second I think. I can't believe its still going. Its a pretty limited story to think of as a franchise.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

What a whiney bitch. God forbid they turn it from mindless killing to a fantastic story.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I kinda wish the article has expanded on what he said, if anything. Does he still think they are well made games even if he doesn't like the direction?

Like, I don't like the new Zelda games, I don't think they have stayed true to the original Zelda (not you Zelda II) games. That said, I cannot deny that a lot of care and polish went into them, I just don't like the direction.

Sure, the new God of War games are not the original avatar-of-rage Kratos but they are still exceptional games.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

Yeah, I like BotW and ToTK, but not as a Zelda fan.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

I only ever played the first 2 until I got a PS5 that came with Ragnarok.

They're not even the same game anymore. The originals were more akin to Devil May Cry while Ragnarok felt like it could have been an Assassin's Creed game.

I can't say much for the story since I haven't gone very far in Ragnarok (and only beat 1 and 2 back in the day so my memory on details is a bit hazy) but the game play is definitely a lot different than it started.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

I've always loved god of war. Chains of Olympus being my favourite one. And I still love the new ones both gameplay and story wise. I really like kratos as a character and I like the story of him finally having time to reflect on his actions in the original series and trying to better himself afterwards.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

Oh, so he never matured at all then, huh?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Indeed, Jaffe does not akree.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago
[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

He's not wrong, do new stuff, too many remakes and remasters nowadays.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

I can understand him. God of War 2018 and Ragnarok have basically nothing to do anymore with the original games. They could have made a new IP but they had to take the name and characters for brand recognition.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago (1 children)

the Original God of War Kratos had all the depth of a puddle.

nuKratos is by far the superior character.

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