As the most knowledgeable, or anyone who has encountered this (non-) problem firsthand, will know, there’s a certain aspect of God of War Ragnarok that has inflamed the debate around the successful Sony production in recent days.
In short, many swore against extremism the zeal of young Atreus, the solution to the riddle of the moment, often in effectively precise sentences. It’s a system perfectly placed in the fun context of the game, and while it has certainly contributed to getting the majority of players back on track, on the other it has undeniably reduced the level of sought-after, longed-for difficulty. By a very large audience that doesn’t waste time voicing their hatred for this design choice on social media.
It must be admitted: make optional Atreus’ easy conversation could have swept away any discussion and left the player with the ability to choose when to seek help in any way. After all, if it makes sense to add a lower difficulty level even in a certain game genre (like soulslike for example), it is equally legitimate to be able to consciously choose to make life as difficult as possible.
David Jaffe, as we wrote in this article, the show’s creator expressed his opinion on the matter, acknowledging Atreus’ influential propensity to intervene too often; this initiative is still necessary, he said, precisely to avoid bottlenecks that would discourage less knowledgeable people. For a blockbuster movie like God of War Ragnarok, being as fluid as possible (which doesn’t necessarily (or just) mean easy) is an essential quality to reach the widest and most diverse audience possible.
Before continuing the discussion, let’s make a clarification: Since we will talk about the plot and sequel of God of War, we draw attention to the existence of some small details beforehand. spoilersespecially in the nature of the 2018 episode. In short, if you don’t want to spoil the surprise, stop reading now.
Wind, eyes, common sense advice
On closer inspection, when the entire plot is carefully analyzed, and also considering the straight forward episode, Atreus’ tendency to be an omniscient one, especially narrative plotA detail perhaps requested by Santa Monica Studios itself, but adding more meaning to the duo’s saga.
But first, let’s take a small step back. tendency to surrender subtle and discreet aids certainly not new to the player, not through text or on-screen indicators, but through elements of the game. Ghost of Tsushima, for example, used the wind to indicate the path, but this feature was completely handed over to the player’s hand, where the player could conveniently and optionally activate it whenever they chose with the push of a button.
The old and unforgettable The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker knew how to be even more cautious. To help the player solve complex puzzles that hinder brave Link’s progress in each dungeon, Eiji Aonuma and his associates enabled the user to get a clue by following the avatar’s gaze direction. scenario whose iteration will resolve the crash.
Unlike Ghost of Tsushima and similar to God of War Ragnarok, in this case there was no choice, in short the help was automatic and cannot be disabledAlthough much more discreet than the one used in Sony production.
Insightful boy, old boomer
Yet we said that such an industrious and brilliant Atreus makes perfect sense, one that can easily be grasped by analyzing the entire saga of the young man and his father over the course of two plays.
Inside God of War In 2018, Atreus is an inexperienced god, completely unaware of his (dual) nature. He must learn to fight, to keep up with his father, more generally to experience adventures filled with danger and obstacles. Clinging to Kratos to climb the steepest walls, he makes countless mistakes, staying quite far from the center of the action at first.
Her maturationNot without shocks and moments of dramatic tension with his father, it happens gradually, and this is quite tangible, especially in the final stages of the adventure, when the boy begins to oppose the Ghost of Sparta, not only during their frequent arguments. but also in battles with an Atreus that learns new moves and becomes increasingly useful and essential, especially against stronger enemies.
Inside God of War RagnarokThanks to the time lapse separating the two sections, the gap is even more apparent during game stages where Atreus is directly controlled, now independent and can perfectly face small obstacles and enemies, the six are highlighted over and over again.
Not just. while in Kratos has obviously aged. While it is not yet clear how and when the gods began to blame the passage of time, what appears in God of War Ragnarok is a clearly crushed, sometimes weak, in some ways resentful Ghost of Sparta. Not because he doesn’t have the strength to cut his enemies in half, of course, but one gets the feeling that he’s no longer the jaguar he used to be, and that it takes a few more seconds to recover from the effort made along the way. .
With Atreus in full development, Kratos now looks like a boomer who can’t fight his battles without a companion. Putting the exaggeration aside and carefully analyzing the plot and its development, rereading the young man’s propensity to propose solutions to riddles under this lens, one can magically find oneself thinking of another. narrative layer The work also talks about the continuous evolution of the relationship that binds this troubled father to his troubled son.
As Kratos slowly bends under the weight of years and drama, just like the actor who is at least four years older than 2018, Atreus solves puzzles at lightning speed, often making fun of his old man and his family. caryatid holding pad. Just as we felt empathy and sincere hatred towards the young man, we now empathically and almost directly experience Kratos toppling the baton, who was already in the prequel concerned with building his successor in the best possible way.
Being constantly encouraged by Atreus to solve puzzles can be frustrating, but ultimately it’s an excellent mechanism. consistent with the narrative structure Beyond Santa Monica Studios’ true intentions, it implemented this feature first and foremost to avoid the bottlenecks that David Jaffe mentioned.
The regret of not being able to turn the young man’s chatter off, at least for now, remains, but God of War Ragnarok certainly wasn’t a self-consistent game until its extreme consequences.
Source: Multiplayer
