God of War III: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''The measure of a man is what he does with power.''|'''[[Plato]]''', greek philosopher}}

'''''God of War III''''' is an [[Action Adventure]] game developed by [[Santa Monica Studio]] and published by [[Sony Computer Entertainment]]. A sequel to 2007's ''[[God of War II]]'', first''God of War III'' is the fifth installment in the [[God of War (series)|''God of War'' series]], the seventh entry chronologically, and the last of the games to deal with the Greek era. First released for the [[PlayStation 3]] on March 16, 2010., It''God of War III'' was also included in the ''[[God of War Saga]]'' released for PlayStation 3 on August 28, 2012. In celebration of the ''God of War'' franchise's tenth anniversary, a ''[[Updated Rerelease|God of War III Remastered]]'' was released for the [[PlayStation 4]] on July 14, 2015. A sequel to 2007's ''[[God of War II]]'', ''God of War III'' is the fifth installment in the [[God of War (series)|''God of War'' series]], the seventh entry chronologically, and the last of the games to deal with the Greek era.

Upon defeating and killing Poseidon, Kratos confronts the King of the Gods, who blasts him and Gaia off Mount Olympus without even a fight. Gaia dismisses Kratos as just a pawn and refuses to help him as he falls, leaving him to [[Once Per Episode|fall into the Underworld]] [[Bag of Spilling|and lose a good chunk of his powers in the process]]. While carving his way out of Hades, Kratos meets an unexpected familiar face: the [[Late Arrival Spoiler|now-dead Athena, who exists as a ghost-like entity]]. She surprises Kratos by offering him her assistance in killing Zeus - but in order to do so, Kratos must retrieve the box of Pandora from Mount Olympus, with the Olympian Gods interested in preserving Zeus's rule standing between him and his vengeance in order to preserve Zeus's rule.

* [[Ancient Greece]]: The setting of the game, naturally. {{spoiler|MeetsMuch of which meets its demise by the end of the game.}}.

* [[Anti-Hero]]: Kratos is a [[Sliding Scale of Anti-Heroes|Type V]] here, motivated by nothing more than vengeance. Not even the natural disaster he unleashes by killing Poseidon gives him any cause for regret... {{spoiler|but regret comes to him eventually.}}.

** {{spoiler|Hermes [[I Shall Taunt You|taunts Kratos]] about how they died by his hands, and [[Karmic Death|becomes an amputee for his troubles]].}}.

** {{spoiler|When Zeus brings up Kratos's family, hethe God of War actually lets Pandora go into the flames -- something he was trying to desperately prevent -- and beats Zeus to death.}}.

** [[Rule of Three|Kratos]] ''ripping off Helios's head''. Andand then he ''[[Refuge in Audacity|usesusing it as]] [[Mundane Utility|a flashlight]]''.

** The end result of the fight against {{spoiler|Hercules - Kratos defeats the wily and cunning champion, then kills him by punching him in the face. Over and over, and over... ''[[There Is No Kill Like Overkill|and over...]]'' until his face stops resembling a face so much as a raw slurry of beef}}.

** Think the gutting of centaurs is bad? Just wait till he gutstears open {{spoiler|''Cronos''}}.

* [[Book Ends]]: The first game began with Kratos jumping off the highest mountain in Greece saying "the Gods of Olympus have abandoned me". {{spoiler|Near the end of this game, he jumps off a cliff again saying the exact same phrase, while in a vision caused from being killed (temporarily) by Zeus.}} [[The Stinger]] at the end proper showsalso qualifies due to {{spoiler|Kratos's apparent suicide - a blood trail is shown leading from where [[Never Found the Body|Kratos's body used to be]] to the edge of a cliff off Mt. Olympus, setting up for [[God of War (2018)|the 2018 entry]]}}.

* [[Bullying a Dragon]]: {{spoiler|Go ahead, Hermes, make fun of the family of a guy known to kill ''out of spite''.}}.

* [[Cain and Abel]]: {{spoiler|Kratos and Hercules are both Zeus's bastard sons.}}.

* [[Chekhov's Boomerang]]: {{spoiler|Pandora's Box.}}.

* [[Colossus Climb]]: Done at the beginning of the game, as Kratos navigates the Titans during their assault on Olympus. {{spoiler|The boss fight against Cronos is one long, extended climb and descent.}}.

* [[Combat Commentator]]: A drunken Hera provides a commentary to Kratos's fight with Hercules, starting with an [[Sarcasm Mode|almost-motherly]] "Now you boys play nice!"

* [[Curb Stomp Battle]]: All ''over'' the place - the game starts with a Curb Stomp ''[[Up to Eleven|War]]'', as the Gods manage to down a half-dozen of the Titans climbing Mount Olympus within the first ten minutes of gameplay, and the rest more or less are beaten ''off-screen''. Odds are, without Kratos on the Titans' side, the ''war'' would have been wrapped up in a half hour with the Gods being victorious. This makes one wonder why the gods were so concerned about them in the first place.

** Helios is one as well. While aidingHelios aids the minions of Olympus against Kratos and the Titans by throwing fireballs into the area, Kratos useduses a ballista to damage Helios' Sun Chariot, causing him to fly straight into the hand of Perses, who then crushed Helios and threw into the city. Kratos later finds him here, using a [[Cyclopean Creature|Cyclops]] to smash through a battalion of Olympus Sentinels that convergedconverge on the wounded god, and demands the location of The Flame of Olympus before violently stomping his head, ignoring Helios's pleas to stop. After finally getting the information he wanted out of Helios, Kratos then soldiers through a final attempt to stop himthe God of War and grabs Helios's head, breaksbreaking his neck, andbefore finallytearing tearshis ithead off - keeping it to use as a light source after.

** The defining example is Hera. After her champion Heracles tried and failed to kill him, Kratos finds a drunken and plague-weakened Hera in her garden; as he reaches the end of the garden, Hera blocks his way, with Kratos trying to get around her, not in the mood for a fight... right up until [[Berserk Button|she calls Pandora 'that little whore']], {{spoiler|causing him to lose control and snap her neck - all without any input from the player. Kratos then uses her corpse toas weigha downweight for several pressure platesplate andpuzzles aidthat inhe must solve to hisfinally escapeleave}}.

* [[Dark Is Not Evil]]: Hades averts the [[Everybody Hates Hades|usual stereotype]]s (minus perhaps greed, if [[All There in the Manual|the manuals are reliable]]) and has genuine reasons to hate Kratos, {{spoiler|as well as there being implications that {{spoiler|all of his less likable traits are the fault of Pandora's Box}}. Some of the Titans arguably qualify as well, since Zeus was the one with the [[Disproportionate Retribution|brilliant idea]] of punishing them forever for "the sins of just one", justified though it may be.

* [[Dark Messiah]]: {{spoiler|Kratos is this by the time the game ends.}}.

* [[Death by Irony]]: In the ancient Greece of [[Real Life|ancient Greece]], worshipers of Hades would {{spoiler|knock their heads on the ground}} so the god of the underworld would hear them. {{spoiler|What does Kratos do to Hades immediately before stealing his soul?}}

* [[Death by Sex]]: Inverted. {{spoiler|with Aphrodite, the hostess of the game's [[Hot Coffee Minigame]],. {{spoiler|She is the only Greek God spared from his wrath, (thoughit's sheunknown likelyif she diesdied in the collapse of Olympus anyway).}}. To be fair, Kratos consistently maintained that if the Gods would stay out of his way on the path to kill Zeus, he would leave them alone. Most- and most of the gods did ''not'' oblige.

* [[Death of the Old Gods]]: {{spoiler|EffectivelyThe overall theme of the game and the end result of Kratos's rampage.}}.

* [[The Dev Team Thinks of Everything]]: During the beginning of ''God of War II'', when {{spoiler|you are still allied with the gods}}, the save screen says "Zeus has given you the opportunity to save your progress"; later in the game, that named is changed to {{spoiler|Gaia}}. In this game, {{spoiler|when Kratos is essentially waging his own war on his own terms}}, there is no such message.

* [[Driven to Suicide]]: {{spoiler|Kratos does this at the end of the game. Originally a case of [[Never Found the Body]], ''[[God of War (2018)]]'' reveals it was a more metaphorical act, with Kratos trying to start a new life.}}.

* [[Dying Moment of Awesome]]: When Helios' plea for his life ends in vain, he out of nowhere {{spoiler|screams "FEEL THE POWER OF THE SUN!!!" and shines so bright that nothing can be seen}}. Doesn't stop him from losing his head, but points for the college try.

* [[The End of the World as We Know It]]: {{spoiler|[[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|What Kratos' actions lead to]], for the ancient Greek world anyway.}}.

* [[Essence Drop]]: As with previous entries: - red orbs for experience, blue for magic and green for health.

* [[Evil Gloating]]: This ends up being Hercules's undoing. {{spoiler|He actually manages to knock Kratos out, but hethen stops to boast to Hera. Kratos comes to and takes this opportunity to steal the Nemean Cestus from him, subsequently beating his face to a bloody pulp.}}.

** He also ends up doing it to '''''[[Holy Shit Quotient|'''''Poseidon]]''''']] inat the end of a [[Shaky POV Cam]] [[Quick Time Event]] - which fittingly uses the thumb sticks.

** At a few points during the battle with {{spoiler|Cronos}}, Kratos is required to blind him by giving himwith a burst of sunlight from Helios' head.

* [[Fake Skill]]: The "[[New Game+]]" glitch in the 3rd game.

** Aphrodite's nameless handmaidens, whose only appearance is in the [[Hot Coffee Minigame]] where they watch Kratos and Aphrodite [[Sexy Discretion Shot|go at it off-camera]], and end up being so aroused that they [[Girl-On-Girl Is Hot|go at it themselves]].

* [[Fighting Down Memory Lane]]: {{spoiler|During his final battle against Zeus, Kratos goes through all of the evil he's committed over the course of the series, showing that Kratos really did feel guilt for what he did deep down.}}.

* [[Five-Bad Band]]: [[Jerkass Gods|The gods]] definitely qualify.

** [[Big Bad]]: Zeus, oh [[GodComplete IsMonster|oh Evil|so]] [[Complete Monster|very]] [[Jerkass Gods|much]].

** [[The Dragon]]: Poseidon kills a Titan in one shot, holds back the rest, and would have killed Gaia if Kratos hadn't stopped him. Helios acts as a Co-Dragon of sorts, and would have killed Perses had Kratos not intervened - despite his apparent cowardice, he also seems quite determined to not let Kratos kill Zeus, despite his apparent cowardice.

** {{Spoiler|Kratos fights several skeletal monsters confined within Cronos's body during his boss battle.}}.

* [[Foe-Tossing Charge]]: Kratos can do this when he grabs ancertain enemyenemies, using their body as a battering ram as he dashes through enemiesother. After running for a while, he'll simply toss the body, or slam their head into a wall if he hits one.

* [[Follow the Plotted Line]]: [[Justified Trope]]. Kratos is in search of Pandora's Box and knows it is somewhere on Olympus - given how important the temple where it was stored was to Zeus and the other gods (it's where they were watching the Titans attack the mountain from), it was really only a matter of time.

* [[Gotterdammerung]]: The developers have said that ''God of War III'' will explain why Greek myths aren't around anymore. {{spoiler|Indeed, Kratos proves to be a one-man apocalypse that brings down the entire Greek pantheon.}}.

* [[Ground Pound]]: One of the moves available with the Blades of Chaos, and. Hercules is also capable of this.

* [[Hannibal Lecture]]: In the path of the Caverns, Hermes completely deconstructs Kratos, who can only listen. {{spoiler|Before his death, Hermes gives a big one to Kratos, and later on it's revealed that it actually registered on Kratos, - something Zeus made use of during his mental attack on Kratos.}}.

* [[Heart Is an Awesome Power]]: {{spoiler|Kratos uses the power of Hope to kill Zeus.}}.

* [[Heel Face Turn]]: {{spoiler|Kratos goes through a gradual one over the course of the game. While he's still not a great person, he becomes noticeably more concerned for his fellow man by the end. {{spoiler|Thanks, Pandora.}}.

* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]: {{spoiler|Pandora.}}. Also a [[Tear Jerker]], given how hard Kratos tries to stop it. The fact that {{spoiler|her sacrifice turned out to be [[Senseless Sacrifice|completely meaningless]]}} only worsens the blow. {{spoiler|Kratos eventually performs one and (seemingly) kills himself, which ruins Athena's plans and gives hope to the world.}}.

* [[Hoist by His Own Petard]]: {{spoiler|Hades has his soul devoured by his own weapons, and Hercules' head is caved in with the Nemean Cestus.}}.

* [[Hopeless Boss Fight]]: {{Spoiler|No matter how much damage the player does to Zeus in his second boss fight, the King of the Gods remains alive, and the boss fight instead ends with a cutscene as Gaia returns. The objective is instead to survive until then.}}.

* [[Hot Coffee Minigame]]/[[Optional Sexual Encounter]]: WithAs is tradition in the Greece-focused games, with Aphrodite this time. [https://www.escapistmagazine.com/god-of-war-iii-almost-didnt-have-a-sex-mini-game/ It almost didn't happen] believe it or not.

* [[Hypocritical Humor]]: The moment Hera's face is revealed, she says Kratos looks terrible. Hera herself is noticeably uglier than in the first game.

* [[Incoming Ham]]:* Hermes. God, that ''[[Evil Laugh|laugh]]''. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV1__Ck3p5Y#t=3m13s Just watch the boss fight in all its glory.]

** {{spoiler|Gaia telling Kratos he was just a means to an end after both get knocked down Olympus and Kratos falls off her. After Kratos makes his way out of Hades and back up the mountain, he meets up with her and throws the words back in her face before personally knocking her down the mountain again.}}.

* [[Never Found the Body]]: {{spoiler|[[The Stinger]] shows a blood trail that leads off a cliff. Indeed, ''[[God of War (2018)]]'' shows that Kratos is still alive.}}.

* [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]]: {{spoiler|When Kratos opened Pandora's Box back in the first game, darkness was unleashed that consumed Zeus and turned him evil, and it is only in this game that we discover this. Also, each time Kratos kills a god, he unleashes a calamity upon the world: {{spoiler|the seas flood, the souls of the dead are released from the underworld, the sun is blotted out, a plague is unleashed, and all plant life dies}}.

* [[No-Holds-Barred Beatdown]]: The end of the Poseidon fight, where Kratos brutally beats, mutilates, and then finally murders the sea god, with the latter being ''completely helpless'' the ''entire time''. {{spoiler|The penultimate scene of the originalFinal Boss ''definitely'' counts.}}.

* [[Nothing Is Scarier]]: In a rare moment of spooky suspense, you have to turn a very slow crank while four [[Demonic Spiders|Stone Talos]] statues surround you - you've likely been fighting them with quite some difficulty one-on-one until now, and you just ''know'' [[Elevator Action Sequence|they're gonna ambush you]]. {{spoiler|They don't attack until you have to backtrack through that same area about an hour later, and even then, only three of them do.}}.

* [[Offing the Offspring]]: {{spoiler|Zeus certainly tries his damnedest to.}}.

* [[Overly Long Gag]]: {{spoiler|At the climax of the final confrontation against Zeus in ''God of War III'', you're required to mash the Circle button while Kratos punches out Zeus' head after pinning it against a rock. Since you're in first-person mode, Zeus's blood slowly obscures your vision while Kratos keeps hammering away at Zeus' skull ''and you have to keep mashing the circle button'', in theory until the whole screen is bloodstained. In practice, this can go on for ''as long as you want'', letting you [[Catharsis Factor|unload all of your stress until you decide to stop frenzily hammering the Circle button]].}}.

* [[Parental Favoritism]]: Hercules accuses Kratos of {{spoiler|being Zeus's favorite son}}. This is... debatable.

* [[Papa Wolf]]: Hephaestus, in regard to Pandora. He's the only one of the gods who {{spoiler|attacks Kratos out of selfless reasonsselflessness, as he think Kratos just would sacrifice her for no other reason than for revenge.; Whenwhen he dies, he begs Kratos to spare her}}. Kratos later lampshades it to Pandora when he tells her that Hephaestus did as a loving father would do.

* [[Please Don't Leave Me]]: "Poseidon's Princess", whom Kratos drags around for a short section before using her body to jam a gear mechanism so that he can make it through a set of doors - she begs for her life to no avail, and you hear [[Gory Discretion Shot|incredibly painful screams as you leave]].

* [[Production Throwback]]: The stylistic [[Precap]] and flashback scenes of ''God of War III'' were designed by Imaginary Forces. [[Word of God|The team confirms that]] [http://www.watchthetitles.com/articles/00176-God_Of_War_III they are an allusion to] [http://www.watchthetitles.com/articles/0034-The_Mummy_III_Tomb_of_the_Dragon_Emperor the ending credits] of ''[[The Mummy III: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor]]'', which were also designed by themIF.

* [[Rage Against the Heavens]]: And Kratos intends to kill them with that rage.

* [[Redemption Equals Death]]: {{spoiler|Kratos sacrifices his life to restore hope to the world, doing a genuinely selfless deed for the second time in his life. While it's revealed he's [[Not Quite Dead]] in the [[God of War (2018)|2018 game]], it's more than symbolic enough to fit.}}.

* [[Red Oni, Blue Oni]]: {{spoiler|Used in a sequence just before the final battle with Zeus. Plenty of redRed blood for the sins Kratos has committed, and blue flames of hope to erase it.}}.

* [[Refuge in Audacity]]: Kratos is trapped in the Underworld, with a very pissed off Hades taunting him the whole way. He blocks his path with a statue of himself, and tries to guilt trip Kratos into giving up by showing him the casket of his dead wife that(whom Kratos murdered in ''[[God of War: Chains of Olympus|Chains of Olympus]]''). So, what does he do? {{spoiler|He turns the casket of Hades' dead wife into a ''fucking battering ram'' and smashes through the statue, allowing him to proceed to the next area}}.

* [[Revenge Before Reason]]: Kratos is willing to wreck the world for revenge on Zeus. {{spoiler|Which he does. Even his final suicide is an act of revenge against Athena, though [[Subverted Trope|it also doubles as a form of]] [[Redemption Equals Death]] that denies Athena the power of Hope and instead releases it upon the destroyed world.}}.

* [[Ridiculously Human Robot]]: Pandora is an artificial being created by Hephaestus and stated to be "neither living or dead", but she looks and behaves like a real human being. She does not need to eat, however, as inferred by her isolation in the Labyrinth, and does possess some superhuman reflexes. {{spoiler|This comes in handy for her [[Escort Mission]] segments.}}.

** Pandora's Box partially averts this, though seemingly not at first. {{spoiler|The box indeed contained the evils of the world and hope. The only thing that truly changes is that the evils in the box were intended for mankind in the original Hesiodic myth, not the gods.}}.

** Hera is the Goddess of Marriage. {{spoiler|So why does all plant life die when when Hera dies? Demeter is the Goddess of the Harvest. She would have a reason to attack Kratos, given he killed her daughter.}}.

* [[Scenery Gorn]]: "In the end, there will be only chaos" indeed. {{spoiler|The sea floods the land, the souls of the dead are released, the sky is darkened by a violent unending storm, a deadly plague is released, and all plant life dies upon the deaths of Poseidon, Hades, Helios, Hermes and Hera respectively.}}.

* [[Second-Person Attack]]: One part of the Poseidon battle has you seeing Kratos's brutality through Poseidon's eyes as you inflict it. Right up until ''[[Crowning Moment of Awesome|you put them out yourself]]''.

* [[Senseless Sacrifice]]: {{spoiler|Pandora died so that Kratos could open an empty box.}}.

* [[Serrated Blade of Pain]]: Kratos's swords.

* [[Sexy Discretion Shot]]: Subverted. While Kratos has sex with Aphrodite, the camera pans away... to two of Aphrodite's slave girls feeling each other up while watching the whole thing. The two handmaidens murmur about [[What Do You Mean It's Not for Kids?|how it's for mature audiences and parents shouldn't let their children watch it while fondling each others' naked breasts...]] and ifIf you succeed, there is ''another'' discretion shot as the two maidens "go to the next step", and the camera pans back to Aphrodite.

* [[Shaky POV Cam]]: Brutally subverted with Poseidon, whomfrom Kratoswhose finishesperspective offyou watch as you playcontrol itKratos fromto hisfinish perspectivehim off, leading up to a well-done [[Eye Scream|eye-gouging]].

* [[Taken for Granite]]: Kratos's [[Finishing Move]] against the more powerful Gorgons lets him tear off their heads and use them to flash-freeze surrounding enemies.

* [[Thirteen Is Unlucky]]: Hercules considers defeating Kratos a thirteenth Labour. {{spoiler|It gets him killed.}}.

* [[Ugly Guy, Hot Wife]]: Three pairs - Hades and Persephone, Hephaestus and Aphrodite, and Kronos and Rhea.

* [[Unexpected Gameplay Change]]: The short [[Rhythm Game]]-style section nearin the middle of the gamesegment.

* [[Uriah Gambit]]: {{Spoiler|Hephaestus sends Kratos to meet Cronos, a Titan who has several reasons to hate the demigod - he fully expects Kratos to be consumed and killed in the process of retrieving the Omphalos Stone withinfrom histhe Titan's stomach.}}.

* [[Villain-Beating Artifact]]: Pandora's box, which contains the only thing that can kill a god, and Kratos's main objective in order to defeat Zeus. {{spoiler|It's all a lie, since Pandora Box is now empty, and the Hope that was meant to be within the box was already within Kratos.}}.

* [[Visual Pun]]: {{spoiler|You literally give {{spoiler|Gaia}} a fatal heart attack}}.

* [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?]]: Other than her creator Hephaestus, the other gods shunned Pandora, as she is really a statue that had been given life. They tend to [["It" Is Dehumanizing|address her as "Itit" instead of "Sheshe".]] - Ironicironic, considering {{spoiler|[[Hope Bringer|she's arguably the most important character in the series next to Kratos, and is certainly one of the most decent people we see]]}}.

* [[Womb Level]]: Gaia, then {{spoiler|Kronos, and then Gaia again}}.

* [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness]]: Kratos usually kills those who had helped him once they're no longer useful or if their death becomes useful. Karma kicks him in the ass when {{spoiler|the Titans thought that he had outlived his usefulness too, and attempt to kill him as they try to overthrow the Olympians}}. It fails, of course. It's also subverted when {{spoiler|Kratos actually refuses to let Pandora sacrifice herself}}.