Keep the love & faith

Only active from time to time. Read my "about" page before asking me anything or chatting. Into Mass Effect, Dragon Age, FFVII, Batfam, Detroit Become Human and a notorious Cloti meta writer. 

[danseru-kun]

This is a good analysis. FF fans are majority above 30 years old, but RE has the same demographics but selling better than before.

I started falling out of FF when FF15 was released and quit it after the Remake.

[egress-ahead]

give him a smooch

[danseru-kun]

I think it is telling that female players are a LOT kinder to Atreus and by extension, Angrboda. I'm not claiming all female players love Atreus, heck there are some who are annoyed by him, think he needs better writing, or also hate Ironwood. But I haven't met a single female fan who is hostile to the boy the same level as some male fans do.

I never met female fans who badly want Atreus to get beaten up for discipline or suffer a horrible death so Kratos can unleash his rage filled murder spree again.

I have to emphasise that I am not talking about male fans as a whole, since there are quite a good number of them appreciate the boy. I find it telling that character-focused GoW content creators like Jon Ford, Midnight Chronicler and FatBrett have a generally positive take on Atreus.

But yes, there is a very vocal subset of male fans whose hostility to Atreus seem to reflect their desire to return to the Greek era Kratos slaughterfest. They seem to blame Atreus' character for everything that strays away from that.

[mask-knife-is-buggys-wife]

Something Dude bros forget when claiming Kratos is "soft now"

The last game showed Kratos' brutality, roughness and aggression as very much a bad thing. It was a part of himself he needed to get under control so that he could be a better father to Atreus. And is also hugely is shaped from his own traumas.

The traits dude bros praise Kratos for have always been complicated. And Kratos has to take them and learn to use them in ways that is not only beneficial to Atreus and everyone around him, but is also healthier for himself. Coming to peace with them so he doesn't hurt his own son or pass them onto him.

By the new game he has friends. He is openly compassionate and more understanding. He is open about his love for arts and is more affectionate with Atreus in his own ways. And that's a good thing. He recognizes closing himself away isn't something he needs to do. He still has issues he's dealing with but he works on it.

Aggression for the sake of manly aggression is not what Kratos is and minimizing him to that is blatantly wrong and a demerit to his character

[masterthespianduchovny]

And his aggression was a result of massive betrayal and trauma. He was literally cursed with his actions. The thing he did to live literally took his family’s lives without his consent. He was haunted by his actions and those memories because he literally had nightmares about their deaths every night.

As faye said, his opening himself opens up his world and it has. Him not relying on violence is what gets him and Freya to overcome what he did to and for her. It allows him to not only try to understand his son, but openly take measures to support him. And, eventually, let him be his own person.

It’s funny that the angry character they idolize proactively took steps to get better and they scoff that this. I even had to explain to my brother in law that kratos not being as angry and violent is a good thing and a better story.

Lastly, kratos was a good and openly affectionate father before his deal with ares. He was canonically a softie before that major betrayal.

[canticle-of-apotheosis]

Everyone keeps saying how Veilguard isn’t a real Dragon Age cos no one betrays you in the end, but that’s because Veilguard itself betrays you. Hope that clears things up.

[danseru-kun]

Veilguard is the only game I hate-played. The gameplay is enjoyable enough but every story related scene I wanted to tear my hair off.

[my-name-is-markus-with-a-k]

This is actually criminal

[danseru-kun]

Also sorry for another rambling, but what are the sales of FF7 Rebirth? It seems they are keeping it a secret. It's probably a bomb, margins-wise.

The latest I can read is that it's 2M. That's pretty bad for a AAA title.

Resident Evil 4 Remake hit 10M copies sold lol.

I hate to say this but the FF brand prospects aren't looking good with this performance. People see FF as a JRPG experience, but not for good stories anymore.

[danseru-kun]

More God of War thoughts vs FFVII. This is more of a rambling of the current gaming industry.

Anyway, even with mixed results and questionable quality, FFVII spoiled its fans in the late 2000s and 2010s era. Imagine, Vincent and Zack, optional and NPC, got their own spin offs lol. Then we have lots of fanservice.

Then God of War Norse games - Atreus, they 2nd protagonist, deserves his own spin off but I don't know if he ever will. Around 15 years ago, this is a lot easier to pull off with a lower budget. But nowadays, dev cycles are a lot longer, costlier, expectations higher, and the devs might not be able to afford to divert their resources to someone who isn't Kratos.

That being said, we have come to this point in gaming that we have reached peak visuals but with diminishing returns in content and profits. Publishers don't want to take risks because the break even point is much higher.

Back in the early 2000s era you can make a good RPG story game in 2 years time. Now, where are the new IPs?

[allsortsoflicorice]

"That being said, we have come to this point in gaming that we have reached peak visuals but with diminishing returns in content and profits."

Well put and very true

[danseru-kun]

Hello! Been a while. Yeah, there are barely anything in PS5 that is a fresh IP or relatively "risky." A lot of them are carried over titles or sequels from the PS4 era (GoW, Horizon, Cyberpunk, Ghost). We are half its lifespan and we barely have new faces.

Stellar Blade, Astrobot and Claire Obscur are the non sequels I can think of.

[danseru-kun]

More God of War thoughts vs FFVII. This is more of a rambling of the current gaming industry.

Anyway, even with mixed results and questionable quality, FFVII spoiled its fans in the late 2000s and 2010s era. Imagine, Vincent and Zack, optional and NPC, got their own spin offs lol. Then we have lots of fanservice.

Then God of War Norse games - Atreus, they 2nd protagonist, deserves his own spin off but I don't know if he ever will. Around 15 years ago, this is a lot easier to pull off with a lower budget. But nowadays, dev cycles are a lot longer, costlier, expectations higher, and the devs might not be able to afford to divert their resources to someone who isn't Kratos.

Back in the early 2000s era you can make a good RPG story game in 2 years time. Now, where are the new IPs?

That being said, we have come to this point in gaming that we have reached peak visuals but with diminishing returns in content and profits. Publishers don't want to take risks because the break even point is much higher.

This is how the FFVII Remake is SE's cash cow and main IP atm. FF16 sales are uhhh sad.

[danseru-kun]

I don't know the level of intelligence or the standards of people who say Aerith is a shallow character

[danseru-kun]

I don't have the copy of the book yet but we can see that they intended Angrboda to be POC based on concept art.

[danseru-kun]

I really should move on to BGC 3

GoW is such a great experience but the well is running dry

[danseru-kun]

I randomly stumbled upon this interview and realized that nothing about it has been posted in any Atreboda space I encountered. So for the benefit of everyone interested, I summarised the interesting nuggets:

Shooting of Ragnarok is like 1.5 years mo cap and 1.5 years voice over. Shooting with specific actors could have gaps of months.

Laya was called for a chemistry test with Sunny before getting hired. The scene of their chemistry test was their first meeting in Ironwood. She got nervous because she heard the staff having some laughs after the scene.

Note: In another interview, Eric Williams said Laya pushed Sunny to work harder. Laya arrived at the chemistry test having all her lines memorised while Sunny was still studying his script. I speculate this was the reason for the laughter. Eric says they already wanted to hire Laya before she did a chemistry test.

Back to Laya's interview again. She said its hard to film intimate scenes because the mocap equipment bump on each other. The part where she holds Atreus hand before gazing at the stars was one of those moments.

The kid actors attend set school and have customised curriculum. Sunny seems to be home schooled as well. There is an on set teacher that also acts like a guardian to monitor work hours and protect the kids. The kids juggle school and shooting within the same day.

Laya thought about taking a test to skip set school. Sunny didn't like it because he does not want to be left behind and attend set school alone (fyi this was told in a light hearted manner).

Laya was cast when she was 14 years old. She confirms both Atreus and Angroboda are in the same age, around 14-15 years old in the story. (Just pointing this out since some fans don't see Angroboda as a kid.)

The interviewer asked if Atreus and Angroboda are in love by the end of the story, and Laya answers yes. She says the audience is free to interpret it as platonic or romantic, but she says "there is definitely love there."

[tahthetrickster]

who wants to see the worst thing ive seen this week

[tahthetrickster]

too bad, im showing you anyway

[arsondotpng]

a non-photoshopped picture of someone actually wearing them, for your viewing pleasure

[melonisopod]

[danseru-kun]

I feel like a lot of people who hate Atreus hate that he isn't the male fantasy they wanted.

He started small, sickly, emotional, with a high-pitched kiddie voice they find annoying. Then his greatest gifts are more stereotypical for princesses like reading, empathy and talking to animals.

I've seen people insult Atreus "girly" and "soyboy" despite the fact he inherited his father's rage issues and potential in violence. Atreus took out his anger on a dead troll and even stabbed a man in the neck by the first 2 hours of the game.

But he still isn't masculine enough to them because he has the soft looks and voice of a kid. There is also the fact he was modeled from his actor, Sunny Suljic. Whenever they insult Atreus' looks, they insult his actor too.

Some of who do like him just find him as a very useful device to further the story and development of his father Kratos, but nothing more. When Atreus moved the plot of Ragnarok more than Kratos, and asserted his independence (with believable flaws from a 14-year old), they disliked that too.

How dare he be the hero and not Kratos? How dare be the actual native Norse character with actual mythological ties and personal vendetta after the genocide of his people not a central character in this story?

They also blame Atreus and GoW writers for making Kratos softer and more emotional. That's why they badly make scenarios (which they would NOT want to admit as fanfictions, because ewww fanfics right?) where Atreus gets kidnapped or killed. They don't have anything creative to offer they literally just want to repeat their violent and miserable male fantasy Greek saga Kratos reskinned with PS5 graphics.

[senhor-do-escuro]

I have never seen anyone hating on Atreus this way.

The only Atreus's hate i have seen was when he was acting all arrogant for being half god and thinking he could do whatever he wanted.

Nothing else.

[danseru-kun]

Good for you that you never see them. There are a lot of hate in Youtube comments and Reddit posts. There are also content creators with significant views hating him.

There are even hate posts in Sunny Suljic's social media.

Just search "Kill Atreus" and a lot of posts would pop up.

[escuerzoresucitado]

Jaguars swimming

[handmedownpocketpussy]

may i offer you a tank of dinguses in this trying time?

[manyblinkinglights]

That. That's the face. If you make THAT FACE hard enough and correctly, kind of pulling a long face while squinching up as well, you will valve your nostrils shut hands-free. Watertight.

[roach-works]

i love that they all just churn each other under while paddling

[danseru-kun]

Opinions on Atreus really makes a good litmus test how much a God of War player cares about the story/lore vs those who are only in it for gameplay.

Even those who hate playing as him recognize how much heavy lifting he does to keep Kratos' character growing and how he open up possibilities for the future of the franchise.