Unfortunately.
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Avatar Community |OT| Live. Die. Repeat.
- Thread starter Trey
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Unfortunately.
GamingOblivion
Banned
Yep, sadly. There are unofficial soundtracks on Youtube plus whatever Jeremy Zuckerman has released on his Soundcloud.
In other news, an "adult" Avatar coloring book is coming in October from Dark Horse. Seems to be a pretty big month for Avatar Dark Horse related things.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1506702368/?tag=neogaf0e-20
Icyflamez96
Member
To be fair, it is only a short demo showing a narrow slice compared to a fully fleshed out story you've seen. I thought what was shown of GoW so far heavily points toward a story that has Kratos deal with his rage issues to some extent. Just the fact that he has to mentor a young child that basically serves as his foil, and especially the part in the trailer where it looks like he's about to comfort him by putting his hand on his back, but hesitates and grabs the knife instead. Whether it will be as well handled as the show you mentioned is yet to be seen. (Probably won' be) - But I definitely think that's the kind of direction the story is headed. That's all that the demo needed to show in my opinion. Just teasing at things to come rather than being really on the nose and blatant.
Yep, sadly. There are unofficial soundtracks on Youtube plus whatever Jeremy Zuckerman has released on his Soundcloud.
In other news, an "adult" Avatar coloring book is coming in October from Dark Horse. Seems to be a pretty big month for Avatar Dark Horse related things.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1506702368/?tag=neogaf0e-20
ya'll know what to get me for christmas now.
Well, I am of the unshakeable belief that any story can be made good. And it's not like the past GOW games have been entirely deprived of bad storytelling on all levels. So I'm open to it being good. However... don't take this as me being confrontational or aggressive, because I'm not. I'm just going to partially explain why I loathe this cunt so much.
Hate is a special thing for me. I don't hate Korra, I just find her and her show disappointing because the writing is bad. When you get down to it, there are few stories or characters I hate specifically because of their bad writing. When a story or character is bad, I rightly place the blame on the head of the writers. I don't even hate the Arrow characters, and I still maintain that show is one of the worst on TV. I think the characters are stupid belief, but it's the writers that made them so, so it's their fault.
But Kratos is different. I don't hate his writers, I hate him. Partially for the fact that he's been badly written in every game he's been in, so blaming a writer is harder when the people in charge constantly change. Partially is that I hated him since childhood, before I developed my "blame the writers" belief. And I'm a huge action game fan, so seeing that so many people liked this game featuring a violent idiot with a sub par combat system irked me. The story of DMC3 is better than any GoW game, and both NG and DMC have better combat systems. I just don't feel GoW deserved the acclaim it got when far better games were around. And then every developer and their mother implemented shitty QTE in their games. It's still something that's around. I think we just got used to it as a thing, but when Bayonetta 2 came out and offered a super mode as an alternate to its torture attacks, I never bother with torture attacks anymore and I'm amazed I lived with this bullshit in my beautiful Bayo for so long. And the series makes him out to be this hero God that can just kill off all the gods just.... because. In DMC, Dante is the son of literally the most powerful demon that ever lived, and he needs external aid like utilizing his father's power to kill the big fish of his world like Mundus. Bayonetta and Ryu have the "I'm super strong just cuz I am" but their universally considered bad stories. Kratos is a demigod and all, but that only makes him a medium fish in the world he inhabits at best. Why is he able to able to push all of Olympus off its rocker? And this hurts the universe fundamentally. Kratos has no consistent rival. Almost everything that encounters him dies in the first encounter, so there's no chance of tension to build up on whether he is facing tough opponents for him. He needs a Vergil/Jeanne. He had that with the Barbarian, another mortal warrior that rose high in the divine ranks and that could have been a cool dynamic as the Barbarian actually had more right to vengeance than he did, since Kratos essential just cheated him out of his rightful victory, but they just decided to kill him off in the first fight he had. And there is also a player - narrative disconnect. Kratos kills all the monsters he kills because he's not happy, while the player does it because it's fun. I feel I am the only one, but I feel a much greater synergy playing Bayonetta because she has actual fun killing angels like I do. I'm not saying Kratos can't be angry in general, but they had 3 games to show some sense of joy in his violence and I don't remember one instance, which makes me feel really disconnected to him.
But most of all, I just hate how everyone buys into his narrative. I have difficulty liking characters who can't take proper responsibility for their actions, but it's possible. However, when the audience goes along with his version of blatantly untrue events, I lose my shit. To this day, people act like Kratos is an innocent victim that the gods unfairly screwed over. NO THEY DID NOT. Ares didn't betray him, nor did Zeus and Athena didn't lie to him. Every bad thing that happens to Kratos can be traced back to his completely willful and conscious decisions. It drives me absolutely crazy how people constantly take his version of the story even though it's obviously untrue.
And now Kratos barely constrained himself from slaughtering his own child in a berserker rage for a minor mistake, and people call it "mellowed out".
I just want people to call a spade a spade. But yeah, we'll see how it is. I do hope it's the first well written GoW, I'm just not holding my breathe and I'm sharpening my knives.
The Scollard
Member
I agree with you on the case of GOW2 and GOW3, since I couldn't really find myself caring much for Kratos in those two games. I mean, when the reason for his "revenge" is basically this;
it's sort of hard for me to sympathize with him.
However, I really really have to disagree with you on the original God of War. I feel you're oversimplifying Kratos' character in that game. While he's still a pretty brutal and angry guy, the whole plot is about him trying to take responsibility for his actions. He blames himself for the death of his wife and daughter, and is trying to kill Ares in order to receive redemption for his sins from the gods. Remember that the first scene is attempting to kill himself in order to atone for his past.
Also, Athena does pretty much lie to him in that game. Sure, the gods do forgive him, but his ashen skin hasn't been taken away, and he still regrets killing his family. It's not the forgiveness he asked for. It's that classic Greek mythology "prophecy twist" that you can find throughout the myths.
As well, Ares was the one who basically orchestrated the death of his family. While Kratos did the deed himself, Ares was the one who made sure his family was there in the first place. It's sort of that classic "let's screw with humanity for the lolz" attitude displayed by several of the gods in the Greek myths (Remember when Athena faced off in a weaving contest against Aracnhe, lost, and then turned her opponent into a spider?) I feel the story works better in the first game, and Kratos is more sympathetic, because unlike in GoW2 and GoW3, Ares is legitimately worse than Kratos, and that made me invested in stopping him. I will say this is lost in 2 and 3 where Kratos is just angry because Zeus warned him to stop killing people.
The original is probably one of my favourite games of all time, and I sort of wish the plot ended with it. The game's story works as a Greek Tragedy, which considering the material it's based off of, was most likely intentional. Unlike the other two games, where I had to force myself through them both, I regularly go through GoW. It's very well paced, and doesn't overstay its welcome. I like the characters, the plot is straightforward and works as intended, and it wraps up nicely. Kratos in the first game is also a somewhat likable character, unlike how he's portrayed in the next two, and does go through a good arc ending with his enlightenment as per the tragic hero he is. Now I only wish they had not messed up that last part in the sequels, but it stuck with me when I had finished the game.
So while I completely agree with you on the two sequels, I think he's a good character in the first game, and that the first still holds up storytelling wise. It's a great game, and after playing through it again recently, I feel it still holds up.
Also, I think it's kind of unfair to blame GoW for the QTE Fests we got afterwards in games. It was novel and new at the time, and while the combat system wasn't the greatest, it was certainly good enough that QTEs never felt like flashy distractions hiding a bad combat system, like how they are used in most games.
I'll reply with more thoroughness later, but here is my examination of GoW and why Kratos made his own bed.
http://m.neogaf.com/showthread.php?t=959476
Feel free to bump it too if you want.
The big point to take away is this though: Kratos isn't trying to repent. He is trying to remove psychological pain. He's trying to stop the nightmares, not to do some tribute to his family and remorse. When he tries to kill himself, it's to finally stop the nightmares, not because there is no way to atone. His final words would have been "the gods have abandoned me", which means he's out of options for his problem. That's different from "I am sorry"
And the biggest and most obvious evidence is that he doesn't try to actually do anything for his family despite him having a blank check from the gods to do what he wants. He doesn't ask for his family's lives back or ensure they're in Elysium. His price is for him to be freed from his burden.
That's not repentance. That's just escape.
Edit: Okay, lets do this.
Funny, it sounds like he blames everyone but himself. Aside from that one scene where he temporarily stops and goes "What have I become" which then has no farther impact on his actions henceforth, he puts the entirety of the blame on others. And again, the specific thing he is asking for is "To be freed from the nightmares". In most cases, you'd could infer that means that Kratos is regretful of his actions, but in his case, he seems only regretful of the consequences (that he suffers nightmares) rather than the actions themselves.
That's less a twist and more Kratos not reading the fine print. The Gods did forgive him, and then went beyond their need to reward him by making him a god. And Athena didn't remove his nightmares because of malice, but because she says she literally couldn't. Apparently, this is beyond the abilities.
So, sure, she misled him, I can give you that. But she made as good on her promise as she could, rewarding him with more than what he actually promised, it's his fault for jumping to conclusions (something the dumb fuck should have learned not to do after Ares), and only did all this because he would have let Athens fall if he didn't believe this was offered to him. As far as Gods being dicks goes, that ranks pretty low. 1. She only did it out of necessity 2. She only didn't actually fulfill it because it was impossible for her to do so. 3. She fulfilled her promise as best she could and 4. actually went beyond what was necessary to reward him as compensation. All in all, the Gods did good by Kratos, I'd say. He's just too much of an ingrate to appreciate the fact.
I pretty much explain this in the thread I linked, but I'll give you the gist here and now: The deal that Ares struck with Kratos wasn't "Lets become allies, where we take care of each other." No, Kratos volunteered to be his slave. So he was treated as one. It's his own stupidity that he didn't seem to comprehend what that means. So if Ares wanted to murder his family, he's perfectly within his rights as his master to do so. More than that, he could have come down and murdered the wife and child himself if he wanted. He could raped them both before killing them. Hell, he could rape Kratos. While that is reprehensible to modern sensibilities, neither Ares nor Kratos operate by modern moral standards. To the morality of both their culture and their individual personal life choices, Ares is not behaving outside of any moral boundaries that Kratos abides by.
Furthermore, it is nothing short of hypocritical for Kratos to be alright with murdering families in general, but not his family, oh no. If this had happened to anyone else, Kratos would have been alright with it. So no, I don't think Ares is any worse than Kratos. They're both living the idolized hardcore Greek Hero archtypes, murdering people all over because that's what the cool kids are doing. If Kratos had used this event to maybe re-evaluate his values and maybe think that murdering wives and children is perhaps not an awesome thing to do, sure. But taht's not what happened. He's perfectly alright murdering families before and after this event. He's just pissed it was his family.
It's like feeling sorry for an unrepentant thief who just got his shit stolen. It's hearing George ZImmerman talk about how he feels unfairly discriminated against and targeted when he does something as simple as taking a walk. Kratos is experiencing pain, sure, but honestly, who gives a shit. I'm not going to feel bad for Kratos experiencing pain he's perfectly happy to inflict on everyone else. Even the suggestion that I should makes me feel angrier at the character than I should otherwise. If anyone deserves to suffer in any way, should it not be the kind of suffering that they have inflicted on others?
Again, Greek Tragedy would have ended with Kratos' death. His apotheosis makes it a Comedy. He's rewarded with the highest possible honor for the worst possible deed, diecide. I also don't think the pacing is that great either. It's a whole lot of nothing happening that is covered up by flashbacks until the end.
The thing is, I very much do felt they were distractions. I'd have stopped doing them altogether unless they were needed, but the death animation for enemies that die normally was so pathetic and unsatisfying that it forced to to use them just so there was an actual climax to the fighting.
I don't know if I can blame GoW for what other developers did, but I do resent that it started the trend in general.
http://m.neogaf.com/showthread.php?t=959476
Feel free to bump it too if you want.
The big point to take away is this though: Kratos isn't trying to repent. He is trying to remove psychological pain. He's trying to stop the nightmares, not to do some tribute to his family and remorse. When he tries to kill himself, it's to finally stop the nightmares, not because there is no way to atone. His final words would have been "the gods have abandoned me", which means he's out of options for his problem. That's different from "I am sorry"
And the biggest and most obvious evidence is that he doesn't try to actually do anything for his family despite him having a blank check from the gods to do what he wants. He doesn't ask for his family's lives back or ensure they're in Elysium. His price is for him to be freed from his burden.
That's not repentance. That's just escape.
Edit: Okay, lets do this.
Funny, it sounds like he blames everyone but himself. Aside from that one scene where he temporarily stops and goes "What have I become" which then has no farther impact on his actions henceforth, he puts the entirety of the blame on others. And again, the specific thing he is asking for is "To be freed from the nightmares". In most cases, you'd could infer that means that Kratos is regretful of his actions, but in his case, he seems only regretful of the consequences (that he suffers nightmares) rather than the actions themselves.
That's less a twist and more Kratos not reading the fine print. The Gods did forgive him, and then went beyond their need to reward him by making him a god. And Athena didn't remove his nightmares because of malice, but because she says she literally couldn't. Apparently, this is beyond the abilities.
So, sure, she misled him, I can give you that. But she made as good on her promise as she could, rewarding him with more than what he actually promised, it's his fault for jumping to conclusions (something the dumb fuck should have learned not to do after Ares), and only did all this because he would have let Athens fall if he didn't believe this was offered to him. As far as Gods being dicks goes, that ranks pretty low. 1. She only did it out of necessity 2. She only didn't actually fulfill it because it was impossible for her to do so. 3. She fulfilled her promise as best she could and 4. actually went beyond what was necessary to reward him as compensation. All in all, the Gods did good by Kratos, I'd say. He's just too much of an ingrate to appreciate the fact.
I pretty much explain this in the thread I linked, but I'll give you the gist here and now: The deal that Ares struck with Kratos wasn't "Lets become allies, where we take care of each other." No, Kratos volunteered to be his slave. So he was treated as one. It's his own stupidity that he didn't seem to comprehend what that means. So if Ares wanted to murder his family, he's perfectly within his rights as his master to do so. More than that, he could have come down and murdered the wife and child himself if he wanted. He could raped them both before killing them. Hell, he could rape Kratos. While that is reprehensible to modern sensibilities, neither Ares nor Kratos operate by modern moral standards. To the morality of both their culture and their individual personal life choices, Ares is not behaving outside of any moral boundaries that Kratos abides by.
Furthermore, it is nothing short of hypocritical for Kratos to be alright with murdering families in general, but not his family, oh no. If this had happened to anyone else, Kratos would have been alright with it. So no, I don't think Ares is any worse than Kratos. They're both living the idolized hardcore Greek Hero archtypes, murdering people all over because that's what the cool kids are doing. If Kratos had used this event to maybe re-evaluate his values and maybe think that murdering wives and children is perhaps not an awesome thing to do, sure. But taht's not what happened. He's perfectly alright murdering families before and after this event. He's just pissed it was his family.
It's like feeling sorry for an unrepentant thief who just got his shit stolen. It's hearing George ZImmerman talk about how he feels unfairly discriminated against and targeted when he does something as simple as taking a walk. Kratos is experiencing pain, sure, but honestly, who gives a shit. I'm not going to feel bad for Kratos experiencing pain he's perfectly happy to inflict on everyone else. Even the suggestion that I should makes me feel angrier at the character than I should otherwise. If anyone deserves to suffer in any way, should it not be the kind of suffering that they have inflicted on others?
Again, Greek Tragedy would have ended with Kratos' death. His apotheosis makes it a Comedy. He's rewarded with the highest possible honor for the worst possible deed, diecide. I also don't think the pacing is that great either. It's a whole lot of nothing happening that is covered up by flashbacks until the end.
The thing is, I very much do felt they were distractions. I'd have stopped doing them altogether unless they were needed, but the death animation for enemies that die normally was so pathetic and unsatisfying that it forced to to use them just so there was an actual climax to the fighting.
I don't know if I can blame GoW for what other developers did, but I do resent that it started the trend in general.
JadedWriter
Member
I put down a security deposit on a place. So I seemed have landed on my feet.
Good news, Jaded. Hope it continues looking up!
JadedWriter
Member
I'm single again. Bit of a negative since I hate the dating scene...a lot. Ugh. What a fucked up year.
FeenixRising
Banned
Hey me too!!! *hugs*. Gonna enjoy having my own private space so I can.... umm, look at my waifus
JadedWriter
Member
I have roommates though. Beats being homeless, I'll survive. Congrats on getting your own place though. Shit was looking really bleak for you at one point.
m_shortpants
Member
Glad to hear you guys are doing well! I need to pop in here more often
JadedWriter
Member
It's hard to pop into a thread that's a pain in the ass to find when it goes dead. I'm doing as well as I can. I literally just broke up with my gf 45 minutes ago.
FeenixRising
Banned
Yep, sadly. There are unofficial soundtracks on Youtube plus whatever Jeremy Zuckerman has released on his Soundcloud.
In other news, an "adult" Avatar coloring book is coming in October from Dark Horse. Seems to be a pretty big month for Avatar Dark Horse related things.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1506702368/?tag=neogaf0e-20
If the rest of the images inside are as lovely as that cover, I might never want to color in it.
JadedWriter
Member
But he's always on top of it, probably sticky too.Sorry Jaded
Toa's Kuvira body pillow is always warm if you need it
Infinite Justice
Member
Ouch
was just gonna ask if you moved out but then i saw the earlier post so at least that's something
JadedWriter
Member
I have to figure out how I'm even going to move out. My parents don't want to help and move in day is next week. Regarding the GF it was mutual. My situation and her situation pretty much just clashed badly and put too much pressure on the relationship. She didn't want to move out, I couldn't move in with her and her parents and she needs/wants to stay home and help support her parents. Nothing we could do.Ouch
was just gonna ask if you moved out but then i saw the earlier post so at least that's something
sixteen-bit
Member
I'd love so see some sample images. The cover art is great.
Watching Voltron: Legendary Defenders. Up to episode 7 of 11.
It's pretty okay-good, softly recommend it if you want to watch a decent action cartoon. The character interaction is top notch and the biggest strength of the series by far, with blah plot and action.
The animation style is almost exactly like LoK. The characters easily look like they could walk straight into Republic City and belong there if they changed their futuristic clothes. If Nick ever decided to make a Sci-Fi continuation of the series, this show serves practically as Studio Mir's proof of concept.
It's pretty okay-good, softly recommend it if you want to watch a decent action cartoon. The character interaction is top notch and the biggest strength of the series by far, with blah plot and action.
The animation style is almost exactly like LoK. The characters easily look like they could walk straight into Republic City and belong there if they changed their futuristic clothes. If Nick ever decided to make a Sci-Fi continuation of the series, this show serves practically as Studio Mir's proof of concept.
JadedWriter
Member
My life is shit. Pure fucking shit. I wouldn't wish my existence on anybody.
FeenixRising
Banned
What happened now?
JadedWriter
Member
I now have no family. Im.not going into details with this but I'm now living with my ex about to sleep on her couch. If I don't get approved for the room in that apartment I might as well just kill myself.
FeenixRising
Banned
Umm... No you're not doing that last thing. I will drive up there and drag you by your nose down to Virginia. You're just going to have to pay for the $18 bucks it costs to drive across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel and back.
Plus food.
JadedWriter
Member
If you say so.
FeenixRising
Banned
You think I'm playing? I've been to your part of the world multiple times via stankin ass Chinatown bus. I will drive up there, shove you in my backseat and drive away like its a regular Tuesday.
I wouldn't know what you would do down here, but it sure beats your situation up here.
But keep us posted.
JadedWriter
Member
I'd need a new job, but I need that now any way. I just feel miserable and empty. Spent half the night crying on my ex's bed.
TangerineCloud
Banned
sixteen-bit
Member
so cute!
JadedWriter
Member
That's actually pretty damn cute. Signed my room lease and put down first months rent if anyone wants an update.
GamingOblivion
Banned
http://www.zwyerind.com/figure_chibi_korra.html
I like the official Zwyer Industries chibi figurine better. And it's more than half the price.
I like the official Zwyer Industries chibi figurine better. And it's more than half the price.
sixteen-bit
Member
Is there an incoming Beifong figure to reciprocate?
TangerineCloud
Banned
whynotboth.png
And while we're at it, I'm still holding out for a Zuko figure. If you can't give us a soundtrack or a blu-ray, at least give us that.
And while we're at it, I'm still holding out for a Zuko figure. If you can't give us a soundtrack or a blu-ray, at least give us that.
FeenixRising
Banned
JadedWriter
Member
Need a Kuvira, Roberta from Black Lagoon, Misa Hayase from Macross and Sheryl Nome from Macross Frontier.
Serenade_King
Banned
Looks really nice. Does anyone know if the Korra and Asami is still being made? Also when are we going to hear about the Korra comic? It feels like forever since I heard anything new about either of those things.
GamingOblivion
Banned
Not sure about the figure, but last I heard from an interview that the Korra comics were delayed. The artist isn't even showing the comics as a part of her website anymore. Something went down, unfortunately.
I don't know why they didn't just get the guy currently doing the Avatar comics to work on it.
Yeah. They actually have a really diverse character selection. They're diverse nationally by having characters all over the world. They're diverse in personality. And their diverse in Body type as well. The Character that Korra is dressed up in is actually way buffer than Korra herself. She might be the first female body builder I've ever seen in a game with a body that actually looks the part. Korra herself would probably cosplay better as this other character, Pharah. Same skin tone, same muscular build. But they even have a chubby girl in there too!
Edit: In fact, I just googled it and there is some Korra - Pharah fanart
I've always argued that there is something special added to a roster when it's truly, actually diverse, and I think that resonates with the community whether they acknowledge it or not. I actually got the game just because of the characters, even though there is no singleplayer campaign to it. The fan art really sold it to me.
As far as the game play goes, a lot of lines have been drawn to Team Fortress 2. In fact, it's been called TF2 with Waifu's. All the characters play very uniquely and part of the game is not just reflexes but having knowledge of what character does what and how they interact with all the other characters. A lot of it is like an a rock paper scissors sort of deal where every character is effective against one set of characters and in turn vulnerable to another set.
And it is REALLY fun. I've tried TF2 because of Valve's excellent "Meet the..." Video series, but I couldn't get into the actual gameplay of it. I wanted an actual story because playing a singular event over and over again where progress is reset at the end of every match wasn't for me. I was really expecting it to be the same deal with Overwatch, where I love the characters but can't get into the game because for me there wasn't a game. But no, Overwatch has me hooked.
Edit: In fact, I just googled it and there is some Korra - Pharah fanart
I've always argued that there is something special added to a roster when it's truly, actually diverse, and I think that resonates with the community whether they acknowledge it or not. I actually got the game just because of the characters, even though there is no singleplayer campaign to it. The fan art really sold it to me.
As far as the game play goes, a lot of lines have been drawn to Team Fortress 2. In fact, it's been called TF2 with Waifu's. All the characters play very uniquely and part of the game is not just reflexes but having knowledge of what character does what and how they interact with all the other characters. A lot of it is like an a rock paper scissors sort of deal where every character is effective against one set of characters and in turn vulnerable to another set.
And it is REALLY fun. I've tried TF2 because of Valve's excellent "Meet the..." Video series, but I couldn't get into the actual gameplay of it. I wanted an actual story because playing a singular event over and over again where progress is reset at the end of every match wasn't for me. I was really expecting it to be the same deal with Overwatch, where I love the characters but can't get into the game because for me there wasn't a game. But no, Overwatch has me hooked.
Xbox bruh
JadedWriter
Member
Always picking the losing side bruh.
It has Halo.
JadedWriter
Member
Who plays that shit still?