I feel like shoehorning in Kratos into a new mythology would just come off as "we're trying to keep the IP from going stale but we also don't want to kill its sales potential, so...here."

It's the same people who think removing Master Chief as the main character in Halo was a good idea (hint? It's not). Sales for that game have tanked since 343 took over and ruined the story and gameplay. If an IP is based on a main character, said character should be there as the main until the IP is finished. No excuses.

franchises and GoW don't need a "nice" protagonist, but a non-onedimensional one would be a good thing

I'd welcome playing as a plainly bad guy over having this paper thin "oh they made me kill my family" motivation that was exhausted after the first game

I really like the character, but would be totaly ok if he were to be retired.

The death of his family was only one factor for him being so angry. The gods promise to free him of his nightmares about killing his family after he kills the Hydra King if he was to kill Ares. Which he does, but the gods don't keep their promise and Kratos keeps having nightmares and so his disdain towards the gods grows. Then he goes to Rhodes to destroy the city and Zeus tricks him pretending to help him overcome the Clossus which Zeus himself granted life, and gives him the Blades Of Olympus to destroy the Colossus but which takes away his powers and then after he is injured by the Colossus Zeus kills him.

It wsa that which made him want to kill Zeus, as previously while he was still angry over the gods he didn't have any personal beef with Zeus, and that was where GOW II started and the gods continued to do things to anger him further in both GOW II and III.

Like Helios in GOW III was given the chance to live by simply telling Kratos where the fires of Olympus was, but he refused despite Kratos having saved him from Atlas in COO, he further went on to insult Kratos. The story of the series is cleverly told through narrative and hints like a novel, not straightforward like Uncharted and most movies do, and we know which meduium tels better stories :P

No Kratos no buy. I sang this to Bob Marleys No women no cry.

I just realized a lot of people are assuming it's the exact same Kratos plucked out of the previous games into another mythology?
mean, that's not impossible, but I was thinking that they're simply doing another Kratos. Like how there are different encarnations of super heroes, in different timelines/dimensions etc. He has to have a similar attitude/behavior but doesn't need to be restricted to his classic weapons nor have the exact same backstory.
Really don't think it's the "exact same person", that seems highly unlikely.

Excately. GoW is the only series I can think of that give me a chance to be a villian and hateful, and I like it. If they decided to change Kratos, I hope they would retain that theme at least.

I'm fine with them having Kratos but don't think him having the same attitude as previous games would work. Pandora gives him hope at the end of GOW III so he should be different if he is to return.

The concept art showed him carrying an axe so yeah I think he or whoever the protagonist is will carry a new weapon and it will interact with the environment according to the leaks.

I really loved the Zeus fight in 3 way more than 2.  The side view first stage was really fantastic and then he had a great bevy of attacks and the heart of gaia part was fun.  I dunno the only disappointing one I thought was Hermes though the chase before him was fun.  The scorpion was just ok but not bad.   I actually came out thinking that's the best set of bosses I've ever had in games.