IGN Game of the Year announced!

[COKTOE]

JWeinCom said:

COKTOE said:

I mean, hey, fair enough, and really, the same applies to homeboy. I think I probably reacted that way because of posts I've seen here on VGC over the years, where people go off on what a one note character he is, which I really don't think is true. While I wouldn't date the character of Kratos as evocative of the "early 2000's", again, fair enough. I didn't start the series until May 2010, when I began playing the PS3 remaster of GOW, continuing with 2 and 3, and never had the the original give me a vibe that hearkened back to a particular style that was prevalent at the time it was made. He certainly IS often an asshole though. It's not difficult to imagine a person not liking him for his actions. His more unsavory characteristics only get worse after GOW 1, and I can't deny they didn't bother me a little bit at times.....RIP Gear Girl.

How old were you in the early 2000s?  If you see him out of context, you may not pick up on it, but in context, there were a lot of characters like that in the 90s.  Those poor tortured souls.  Shadow the Hedgehog comes to mind.  Even characters that were previously nice and friendly, the Prince from Prince of Persia or Jak from Jak and Daxter, got an attitude adjustment to fit the mold.  

I was 25 as of May 2000, and was a comic book reader until 98'. I'm certainly aware of the archetype you're referring to. I remember the ad's for comic stores within the comic books themselves, and one store in particular kept using the phrase "grim and gritty for the 90's" in it's description of multiple books. It was so overused, it briefly became a "thing" my friends and I would say among one ourselves. As for Kratos, I just never picked up on that vibe. To me, and I know this is corny, it felt timeless. Not dated.