God of War Ragnarok has become the latest release from Sony and it’s no surprise that there has been so much hype surrounding its launch. Not only does this game bring us spectacular graphics to mesmerize our senses, but it also offers powerful storytelling that allows us to immerse ourselves even further into the grandiose world of Norse mythology.
Even more impressive is how this epic journey paints a picture of an indomitable male role model – Kratos – who despite his flaws and past indiscretions shows great resilience in battling monsters as he strives towards redemption. So how can God Of War Ragnarok teach us something about strong male roles in games? We hope to explore some ideas on what players can learn from one of the strongest characters in gaming history!
If Kratos were alive today, he would be canceled
It is ironic that in today’s main stream media, strong male characters are ridiculed and considered bad. When they demonstrate passion, power, be it, mostly physical, in their pursuit of achieving success, and they end up hurting or causing a bit of damage as they learn to execute a vision society is easily prone to action in shunning that person.
Any person male or female really, but I will use a male as the role model for this PlayStation video game life lesson article in order to keep things simple, can relate and yearns to varying degrees to assimilate a lot of the attributes and principles of character that Kratos exhibits in the dad and warrior simulator that this game is.
Table of Contents
People make mistakes
It is a generally accepted human point of view that most people, if not all, will make mistakes along the path of their life. Yet in today’s online social media political spectrum of ideologies, there seems to be a hypocrisy and neglect of this basic fundamental fact of life.
In god of war ragnarök main characters Kratos is someone that has sort of become a new God if we are speaking in terms of the creative director of the god of war franchise. The Kratos we used to know, has changed into a more refined male character with his weaknesses, carrying along with him.
Testosterone charged
He has tendencies of a typical husband when looked thru the lens of hundreds and hundreds of years of literacy and entertainment content throughout human history the father is depicted as the more rigid persona in a family unit.
Kratos from time to time will lose his grip on his power yet he has come to learn to control it, and to a good degree I would say, specially when compared to his prior actions in the god of war series.
Your past doesn’t define young
I here are some of the few atrocious acts of violence that Stratos has committed throughout the games in the god of war series, PlayStation franchise:
Committing matricide by killing his own father, Zeus
Kratos was consumed with rage at Zeus for the death of his family, and ultimately betrayed his father in a fight that shattered Mount Olympus. He used an array of powerful weapons and magical abilities to defeat the King of the Olympians which resulted in considerable collateral damage to the world and many innocent people.
Attempting fratricide
Kratos attempted to kill his brother Poseidon after becoming enraged when Poseidon refused to help him take revenge on the gods. This particular act of aggression was short-lived however, as Poseidon quickly outmaneuvered and subdued Kratos.
Yet he did not hesitate to literally take his brothers life in similitude to Cain when he took out his brother in the Bible story of Genesis.
Betraying Athena
Kratos had been tricked by Ares into killing Athena and ended up murdering her in a fit of rage. Though he regretted this action afterwards, it still remains one of Kratos’ most heinous acts given that Athena had always been there for him despite everything else that he did.
The motives of Athena to me are interesting as it points towards a topic that is different and too broad for the length and purposes of this article, but Athena is a great example of a couple things starting with the Good Samaritan that doesn’t know when to stop giving and by consequence of not stopping ends up sinking just as the saying goes “you can’t stop a ship from sinking for too long until you end up sinking with that ship also”.
Destroying Delphi
In pursuit of Pandora’s box, Kratos destroyed Delphi, slaughtering innocents who were trying to protect the mystical artifact from being taken away by him. During this time, he also lost control over himself and began a rampage across Greece, attempting to destroy all who stood in his way while unleashing various monsters onto innocent civilians.
This is one where perspective comes to play and a great example of it would be in modern gaming with the likes of Halo Infinite campaign and how the Master Chief talks to the man known as the Pelican guy after killing the final boss in the Brute army from the Vanish.
Master Chief tells the Pelican Guy that he showed mercy in the final moments of the fight with the Vanish’s leader because that Brute was just following orders or his moral belief which from the perspective of the Brute was a righteous cause after having its home planet destroyed and lifestyle taken away from him.
The debate of which side is the good or the bad is up there and we can discuss it if you want to on socials so make sure you hit me up as @richierichlabs on all platforms of your preference.
Unleashing Typhon
Upon reaching Tartarus, Kratos unleashed the giant monster Typhon, who rampaged across Greece before causing major destruction in Athens where it killed many innocent people including children. self explanatory I’d say. Do the means justify the end?
Killing Achilles
Achilles had rebelled against Ares and helped Kratos throughout his journey to find Pandora’s box but was eventually killed by Kratos when he became corrupted with power from Ares’s Blade Of Chaos and attacked Achilles without provocation or warning after mistaking him for one of Ares’ minions .
This made me think of how in WW2 the enemy made their people look at other as less than what they were which in turn made them more subjective and easily accepting of the methods taken to achieve their goals.
If you dehumanize people it makes it easier to hurt them. Kratos for sure was possessed in this instance, but don’t we also end up allowing ourselves to be blinded to the point of being so disconnected from reality we can also become a rampaging monsters?
Killing Icarus
Icarus had tried to help Kratos throughout his quest but eventually became a victim of betrayal when Kratos took advantage of his good will towards him and killed him once they arrived at Mt Olympus.
This one is a perfect example of those people who tend to get betrayed so much they end up locking themselves up and will receive from others and dispose of them as soon as they can due to their nature to be not trusting of others.
Can you blame them? I’d say most you can, but it is a topic for another day for sure. I will say though that the past doesn’t dictate your future, but it can sure influence it.
Destroying Olympus
In order to gain vengeance on Zeus for all wrongdoings inflicted upon him, Kratos set out on a mission which would end up becoming harmful not only for Zeus himself but also for Olympus itself resulting in its complete destruction.
Which as I mentioned at the start it is a horrible act on of itself and really selfish for it took a system that others used to live and essentially left those people without a guide or system to live by.
Flawed Character
As you can see, he is a flawed character to say the least, and in real life he would have been stopped before reaching such a high level of atrocious acts, but nonetheless, the principles still apply to him as it would, with a real life person.
Don’t get me wrong hurting or damaging things or others for the sake of doing, so is wrong on of itself and selfish. Kratos being a digital character if we could have a little more creative freedom when it comes to the actual little details of how much and for how long he does, what he does, but that also allows us to have a broad and get intimate example of the principles at hand.
From naïveness, going into anger in power, then coming out on the other end as a compassionate and patient father, it shows a journey of a male which can relate to females, but based on cultural tendencies, we can more easily relate him to a typical male.
Shut off the sensors
Like Kratos in the newer series of games like God of War ragnarök he is shy and sort of afraid to try new things which can be related to how teenagers and people now a days that attempt to create things end up staying quiet do the horrible shunning that comes from society and ridicule.
The opposite of it is people that create, creative director let’s call it, ends up closing themselves off to the ridicule and become this inhuman, forced to do it for the numbers, kind of persona that is disconnected from reality for how else are they going to take all the caca that gets throw at them?
Deal with the moment and search for that inner strength to pull that thing out of you and create! Remember though that the world doesn’t owe you anything, but keep pushing and you’ll find meaning in the journey even if it changes drastically on how it ends up happening.
Relatable
Kratos and Atreus are relatable though thanks to the creative director and play of dad and boy son moments that are based on normal day to day events in the lives of many who have their father or a role model of that importance.
Together with the combination of interactions that are so down to earth between father and son in the video game, and for those who have experienced marriage or long-term relationships that are intimate and profound, the character becomes relatable through fatherhood, and being a husband who has lost that wife partner support in the nine realms I’ll be at for us that would be earth.
Regardless of all of this to main stream media will attempt to be put forth and make you think that a passionate, powerful, sometimes chaotic male is no good, but they are wrong. The sales numbers of God of War ragnarök and hell even Avatar The Way of The Water and its family focused plot is another point of evidence in this favor.
Yes, we need to have self mastery and not hurting others should be a priority to any human specially powerful ones but to assume that becoming powerful because you will hurt people is something you should sun away from his preposterous.
The Means Justify The End?
In the good old words of Jordan Peterson (become a monster, then learn to control.) I wholeheartedly agree. Kratos it is a great example that even though society today, bashes in attacks negatively the role of a strong mail and deems it as wrong and dangerous, but it’s hypocrisy praises, and admires the refined and powerful self controlled strong males.
It is not fair, but we either squash all the possibility of a male person to become a leader that is compassionate and powerful by not allowing them to hurt anybody in the journey, towards becoming that, praiseworthy figure, in order to protect everybody, or we come to understand, and develop tools and systems that allow us to get hurt, but I still leave room for chaos to turn into order.
Allow a little bit of chaos
I invite you to ponder on how the god of war and his leviathan axe together with his boy Atreus in the journey of their lives, stumble, and get back up many many times, because of the love, mutual respect, them working together in order to learn and grow as one unit in the nine realms and thanks to Sony interactive, and the PlayStation to host such a beautiful video game.
The End
God of war Ragnarok sold good just because it is a good video game, examples of it are the gameplay, graphics and all round full of good quality stuff, but also because it is a magnificent a showcase of attributes that humans respect and yearn for in real life.
Don’t be blinded by the main stream media, enemies, critics, and those people who are ignorant to basic and fundamental traits embedded in humanity.
The best DualSense PlayStation five Adaptic triggers supported video games
If you are interested in knowing what are the best games that make use of the new PS5 DualSense haptic feedback and adaptive triggers don’t forget to check out my guide to the best games that make use of the technology on the PS5 follow the link here: <List of Games>
If the link above doesn’t work for getting your own copy of the game here you go <God of War Ragnarok>
What is God of War?
God of War is a critically-acclaimed action-adventure video game franchise from developer Santa Monica Studio and publisher Sony Interactive Entertainment. The series follows the adventures of Kratos, a Spartan warrior, and his son Atreus as they traverse through different mythological realms.
What is God of War Ragnarok?
God of War Ragnarok is the second installment in the God of War franchise reboot. It will be set in a Norse mythology setting, with familiar characters returning for this installment such as Kratos and Atreus. The story will follow Kratos’s journey to prevent the prophesied Ragnarök from occurring.
Why is God of War Ragnarok a good game?
God of War Ragnarok will offer an assortment of features that make it an enticing game experience. Players can expect improved visuals and sound quality, a more interactive combat system, new weapons and armor, customizable upgrades and skills, larger open world environments to explore and NPCs to interact with, and much more. All these features combine to create an immersive gaming experience filled with exciting new content.
What are the features of God of War Ragnarok?
Some key features in God of War Ragnarok include: improved graphical fidelity; more interactive combat; new weapons, armor and items to collect; upgradable stats; customizable skills; larger open world environments to explore; NPCs to interact with; deeper lore exploration into Norse mythology; challenging boss battles; replayability through additional objectives and side quests.
How does God of War Ragnarok compare to other God of
War games?
Compared to previous entries in the series, there are plenty of improvements made for God of War Ragnarok that sets it apart from its predecessors. Players will experience improved visuals & sound quality as well as richer lore exploration influenced by Norse mythology that makes it unique compared to other installments in the series. Additionally, there are plenty new systems such as upgradable stats & skills that bring new ways for players to customize their experience beyond what was featured earlier entries in the series.
What is the story of God of War Ragnarok?
The story revolves around Kratos trying to prevent Ragnarök from occurring by defeating powerful enemies while exploring vast lands inspired by Norse Mythology like Midgard and Asgard. Accompanied by his son Atreus as well as allies like Mimir who provides guidance throughout their journey. As they face off against massive creatures such as giants & dragons using runes found throughout their adventure while uncovering lost secrets some secrets about Kratos himself along way.
What are the gameplay mechanics of God of War Ragnarok?
God Of war offers several mechanics for players which includes multiple types close quarter or range weapon attacks combined with various combinations which increase damage from certain magical abilities when used strategically players can gain access powerful magic spells against their targets . Additionally , god Of war still retains its classic hack& slash style where players must employ strategy & timing , blocking / dodging enemy attack , performing executions moves .
How does God of War Ragnarok look and sound?
God Of war has greatly improved visuals compared past titles providing striking details on its vistas making it highly immersing allowing player marvel at its breathtaking views . In terms sound effects , music impeccably composed incorporating choral chants recreating atmosphere imaginable within interlinked beautifully crafted tracks giving player complete immersion during play time .
What is the verdict on God of War Ragnarok?
It has been high acclaimed and surpassed the first and all of God of War games completely.
Where can I find God of War Ragnarok?
God Of war ragnarok is out 2022 exclusively PS5 platforms with PC coming in 2023
