Good versus Evil.
The idea is as old as humanity itself and still the most popular theme (at least in theory) in universal storytelling. Initially the moral concept was the ideals of justice and mercy in contention with the vices of selfishness and cruelty. In our earliest legends these two perspectives are usually defined by metaphorical constructs: the ravening dragon as a symbol of evil and the stalwart warrior rescuing the princess representing good. It's a simplistic approach to a fundamental concern, but introduces the conflict between good and bad influences early in life and at least at first encouraged one and rebuked the other.

Nowadays good and evil are not so much ideals as they are disparate factions. The evil East India Trading Company is fighting the good Pirates in the Pirates of the Caribbean series. Why is the trading company evil despite them keeping order and the pirates good despite the fact they murder and pillage?
Because the films have designated one side good and the other side evil apropos not a great deal beyond that the filmmakers prefer the society of the pirates to the society of the company. Because of this no company member is ever truly moral centered and by a strange extension despite the pirates on screen betraying each other, killing each other, and stealing things, none of them are truly morally reprehensible.
Despite this conflict probably being referred to as good versus evil offhandedly, the truth is that this is no longer the same kind of story as earlier tale tellers intended.
More often then not storytellers are not making statements about moral decisions or imperatives or questions of action or motive or what intrinsically in the human spirit leads to either villainous actions or righteous deeds.

Neither despite the popularity of subjectivism are modern storytellers willing to say that there is no good or evil just points of view. Consider District 9. This supposedly deep investigation of racial politics is a cartoonishly simple divide between benevolent space creatures and greedy, unsympathetic humans. The alien prawns do kill humans, but they're justified in doing so. Our hero uses an alien weapon to reduce several dozen humans to piles of red goo, but he's justified in doing so because at no point is there any indication that the villains have good intentions, family's, or rational thinking.
So despite the question of evil being fairly moot in a world without any objective standard (if you believe good and evil are just words because no action carries with it good or evil representation, just different points of view) the most common conflict is STILL between objective good and objective evil.
In Avatar the battle isn't just between the natives and their opinions and the mercenaries and their opinions...it's saintly natives against vile, greedy invaders.
In the upcoming Elysium the conflict will not be between two separate societies with their own ideals and justifications with only wealth setting them apart, it will be between the authentic, daring and noble poor and the indolent, paranoid, underhanded rich.

Good and Evil is now more of a political postulation, but used in the same way as if it was the moral question. Being a racist is objectively evil. In fact being judgmental is generally evil, so much so that holding people separate because of their accomplishments or circumstances of birth is so corruptive that anyone who makes such a statement is automatically irredeemable. Making a racial slur is a sure fire way for a modern audience to applaud not only your humiliation, but also your death. Same with being greedy. It's not enough for the wealthy fat-cat to get his comeuppance, he has to die for his unforgivable crime. Originally the giant or the dragon would die because the hero would be brave enough to face and defeat them, but it seems more like lethal karma. The hero's victory has less to do with the heroes nobility and sacrifice and far more with his enemies being pathetic, groundless, and cursed for their impositions.

I am about sick of Good and Evil meaning little more then 'guys the director doesn't like stacked against anybody else'.
How many 'heroes' are there really out there? Bourne isn't really a heroic person, but he's a hero simply because he opposes the evil, greedy organization he used to represent. Bourne himself doesn't need to care about others or sacrifice of himself, he just has to kill the bad guys to make him our moral standard. In movies like Shooter it's actually perfectly fine for the 'hero' to butcher unarmed bad guys which to me seemed very immoral and disgusting, but I've yet to hear anyone echo my concerns.

This kind of 'either-or' does NOT lend itself to deep story telling. No matter what hot button issue you're confronting, it breaks down to the same degree of simplicity as any piece of propaganda. No matter what kind of diverse allies the bad guys have, they're still evil and deserve to die. In Bioshock Infinite the entire game is spent slaughtering people on both sides of a political conflict because they inconvenience the player, and yet the player is considered morally superior to both sides. Neither side ultimately however has as much depth or interest as they might have if they were not just slapped with a generic 'enemy' tag. Suddenly what could have been a person is rotten to the core. You have a character who might have had a life reduced to a stormtrooper that needs to be removed like any obstacle to your righteous progress.

But how might it look to have a situation in which Good and Evil were blurred you might ask?
I'm not referring to Game of Thrones which does (to my limited knowledge) seem to imply that morality is simply perspective. I've yet to see a single character represented that I thought was morally interesting. I could be wrong but all of them seem interested in power, and that to me is an indication of flying off the other end of the Good/Evil line by just abandoning the distinctions. Now NOBODY is good or evil, they're just sort of selfish with occasional bouts of honorable obligation, doing good not because they want to live well, but because they might feel guilty if they did not.
In this way I see the show as ignoring the question. Good? Evil? Who cares? Everyone's out for themselves and the interest supposedly comes from the fantasy elements and backstabbing alone.
Same with the show American Horror Story in which no single character has any redeemable factors at all. Every person is psychotic, self obsessed, neurotic, petty, or cruel and the show just keeps presenting worse and worse events. Without morality to fall back on it simply worships evil, because without any notion of good that's the 'side' which seems to possess the most strength.
So you can ignore both Good and Evil, but invariably I've seen this leads to a parade of miseries to shock people into emotional response. It's not much better then the black and white model of the conflict.

There is however another indication of a potential innovation in regards to Good vs Evil.

Normally race actually plays a HUGE part in determining good and evil. If the aliens in a film are evil, all of them are evil without exception beyond those which break ties with their species to join the virtuous humans. If the humans are evil, all of them are evil beyond those who betray their kind to join forces with the virtuous aliens.
In video games especially the indication is that to belong to a faction is to adopt their moral outlook. There are no good orcs and there are no bad elves. To be one race or the other is to devote oneself exclusively to good or evil and by extension make yourself a hero whose cause is just or a villain who deserves nothing but death.

But an independent game called Of Orcs and Men seems to be shaking up these preconceived notions in a way I wish more stories would consider.

At first glance the game seems to be role-reversal of the traditional fantasy archetypes. You play an orc warrior who is set up against the tyrannical human empire which is persecuting your kind. The tables seem turned completely and perhaps with predictable abruptness. Surely with the humans represented by a tyrannical emperor and an oppressive inquisition the same kind of by now classic mentality will be at play of the noble savage (represented by the orcs) versus the hardline, unthinking religious imperialists (represented by the humans).
This would undoubtedly be the way any Hollywood director worth his salt would go. It's a perfect opportunity to appear like you're breaking them mold by casting the traditional bad guys as the good guys, but to keep in line with the prevailing political standpoint that everyone who follows rigid rules is evil and everyone who does whatever they please is good. You could even be socially relevant by none-too-subtely alluding to the plight of native americans or black slavery or the Holocaust in the depiction of orcs in concentration camps or being relocated, or have the human leaders thinly veiled representations of political rivals.

And before you accuse me of being pedantic, I'll remind you that the bad guys in both Terminator Salvation and Wall-E saying 'Stay the course' was no accident. They were always intended to be call backs to George W. Bush from the written page to the silver screen. Same reason the stupid president in Get Smart cannot pronounce 'Nuclear' and why in Watchman the statement 'We don't want a cowboy actor to be our president' (which at the time alluded to Reagan) was changed in the film to be simply 'We don't want a cowboy to be our president'.

But Of Orcs and Men does NOT fall into this cesspool of expectations.

For one thing the orcs and goblins in the game could really care less about moral imperatives. Even in the opening dialogue the goblin narrator states that he really didn't have any interest in the human/orc wars until they came into his part of the world. Essentially orcs, despite being the downtrodden race in the story, haven't become virtuous heroes over night. They are still they way they're usually depicted: selfish, violent, territorial and brutish. Even the orc you play has the distinction of being the Butcher of Harbor Bay: a berserker soldier who let his rage so consume him in battle he killed many of his own soldiers as well as his human enemies. He has no remorse for his actions, but does acknowledge that this tendency to lose his mind in bloodlust is a potentially dangerous thing if he's going back into war.

As for the evil humans, the first statement about them by the goblin is an almost admiring one. The emperor managed to unite all of the humans into a single political and religious entity which had the interest of expanding rule and creating a peaceful imperial entity. The 'trouble' started when they tried to take the southern lands and ran into the orcs, leading to a conflict...which mankind proceeded to win. Not through underhanded trickery, but simply through outmaneuvering and overwhelming the orcs. As a follow up the humans enslaved the remaining orcs, but again the orcs and the goblin does not see this as a moral outrage so much as a practical nuisance. Orcs have a society viewing as crude by the humans but one their proud of, and this includes slave tiers and the like. They acknowledge that the humans are essentially doing exactly what they might do in the same context, but are doing it better.
Even the cruel inquisitors and mercenaries are cruel and uncompromising because they're meant as a defense force against orc resistance fighters.
Seeing as you spend a lot of the game killing them in battle and going on to attack the villages they defend somehow these measures do not seem so pointlessly violent. The gameplay itself proves that your opponents have functioning brains and that what they do they do for rational reasons.

Suddenly the conflict becomes less about two split down the middle moral ideals and more about individuals and societies struggling with their own ideas. The orcs want their lands back and to throw off the yoke of slavery so they can live in peace.
So surely they're the good guys.
But the humans want to end the war, establish their empire, and live in peace.
This may be the only example in living memory I have of a story in which BOTH opposing sides wants the exact same thing.

All this would have been interesting enough, but a bombshell dropped in the first few minutes of the game when an orc commander says offhandedly 'We have human allies yet. This isn't over'.

But...wait! You're orcs! Aren't you supposed to only fight with your own brethren? In every previous instance of orcs, including Warcraft, the orcs have only fought alongside their own species and other beastly races. Orcs can't fight alongside humans!  It's...just not done!
Besides aren't the humans in this game all evil? They all belong to an oppressive empire so surely every man, women, and child are oppressive too. And maybe I'd accept it if there was a handful of virtuous humans who betrays their people as a grand statement, but if the humans can just change sides at will or pick their own sides then...

They'd have to be individual characters, not just a lumped together label to pinpoint who the writers didn't like and who they did.
There would have to be a STORY here instead of just propaganda.

The first character you meet outside of the tutorial is actually a human ally who wants support after a raid by the empire. The orcs don't show any contempt for the human as a human at all, the reason being that this is just one more soldier in their army. The orcs, and the human as well, see no distinction between each other because of their aligned interests. In a sense despite the orcs and humans being different in size and strength, the game doesn't tell you in as many words which racially is more authentic or moral at all.

Humans, and orcs, are people.

Can you imagine for one second a version of Avatar the Last Airbender where an entire township of the Fire Nation decided to fight on the side of the Avatar? Can you conceive of a Stormtrooper legion which abandoned their post to fight for the rebel alliance? How about a wing of the evil conspiracy in any film deciding to help out the hero through their own moral reasoning?

That couldn't be. That would be too complex surely! If you distinguish people outside of their political/racial stances then you'd have to acknowledge that people can make their own decisions and that wars are more then just the virtuous versus the villainous.  
The Fire Nation is imperialistic and greedy and ignorant so they can't possibly be thoughtful individuals. People who support those ideals only come to them surely by indoctrination and lies. If they made their own decisions they would decide to do what was right and join with the friendly, funny, sustainable living heroes.

But what if the choice isn't so clear?
What if you literally had a political determination to make instead of an implicitly moral one?
The orcs and humans (in what I feel is a genius move) have been represented on only purely political grounds, and political in the original context of the word. Because the orcs are pragmatists they don't have much regard for morality at all so they do not adhere to being 'good', but the human who are enslaving the orcs and invaded their land are not necessarily being 'evil' either because their intentions are roughly on the same plain as the orcs at heart: uniting their people, honoring their faith, and bringing peace to the lands.
So you could literally be either good or evil and join EITHER side for the same internal reasons.
You could even be mistaken in your choices.

There's a scene early on where the orcs attack and destroy a chapel of the human inquisition. Now this might seem a cause for rejoicing because the oppressive religious fanatics are dead and now the land is free.
But in a move that astounded me there is actually a scene of a high inquisitor taking hold of the corpse of one of his men and screaming in anguish 'Look what you did to my disciples!' and proceeds to weep.
This is extremely odd by all modern conventions.

Surely this guy, a villainous representative of the human empire, he would say something more like 'Those blasted green-skins have foiled my plans!' or he would be angry at the fact they destroyed the chapel and ignore his fallen comrades. After all being evil he has no consideration for the lives of his men.
That's what's supposed to set aside the humans instead the good guys from the bad guys.

In what self respecting stories can the bad guys actually care about anything other then their own lives and money? If they did then...would they still be bad guys?

Also as heroes shouldn't we NOT be killing people others care about?
When Luke Skywalker butchers Stormtroopers its perfectly fine because they're clones anyway. When Indiana Jones shoots Nazis that's cool. Nazis are evil and need to die. When Jake Sully throws a human soldier to his death, no biggie. That was a greedy man who would have done bad things if allowed to live, and we never get any indication he'll be missed.

But...what do you do when your evil opponent walks onto a battlefield you created and weeps over the dead? What happens when the people your sword passes through and whom you loot for healing items turn out to be cared for?

And even STILL Orcs and Men doesn't let up.
The goblin character is the only one of his kind who is actually intelligent. Interestingly his people has no culture because they've never bothered to. He actually hates his people and has ironically adapted the practices and weapons of human thieves and assassins. He doesn't like being persecuted, but he isn't out for righteous vengeance. He wants to live in peace.

But how much peace can he have?
In another moment that blew my mind the orc player character says to the goblin 'You're all alone and dying of loneliness.'
The goblin admits he's lived a long time, has no one to really connect to, and has been living day to day without much purpose beyond survival. He's the only one of his kind who can speak and think for himself and yet he's not recognized, nor ever will be likely, by either his people or the orcs or humans. He's perpetually trapped between all three through no fault of his own.

Wait a moment!  
The heroes are supposed to be set for life if they kill the bad guys!
When the hero finally destroys the evil empire and kills the bad guy who killed his father that's supposed to be the happy ending. The only obstacle to the hero living in peace has to be the bad guy's continued existence, otherwise the story won't end after the bad guy is defeated. If the hero is a tragic one then maybe even winning his battles will make him happy, and...that's just not done!

That would be an indication that the 'hero' was more complex then an ordinary protagonist because their struggle was internal, not strictly external.

That would be like Frodo being drained and ultimately unable to re-enter society despite everything that happened to him in Lord of the Rings, and who wants that?

A modern story should according to what I've seen...

-Clearly distinguish good and evil by class/race/faction
-Make killing bad guys virtuous and exciting and consequence free
-Wrap everything up with the defeat of the bad guys

But somehow this little indy game is quietly challenging the rules.
And that's not even getting into the plot of the game which is about disrupting the alliance contract between humans, elves, and dwarves.
Why? How?
Surely the orcs will expose some kind of villainous scheme the humans are plotting which will give them away. Surely the elves and dwarves being better people then the vile humans would never consent to an alliance with an oppressive empire and religion against the orcs. Maybe the orcs will team up with the elves and dwarves to fight against the evil humans?

Nope.

Your character merely wants to gain access to the alliance and attack the ambassadors. There's no intrigue, no indication that the orcs have justice on their side. The entire game is based on stopping an alliance between humans, elves and dwarves...because that would be bad for the orcs.

In a sense the goal is nearly morally neutral.
This is not like Game of Thrones were clearly desiring power is wrong. The defense of one's homeland is generally considered moral high ground.
But what if instead of attacking The Death Star, Luke and company attacked a civic meeting of imperial officers and civilian guests?

Who would be the good guy or bad guy there?

You're allowed to choose.
The title is very apt: Of Orcs and Men is about just that.
Nothing is cut and dried. The heroes are troubled and the villains have virtues. The tyrannical emperor himself has come to his decisions not through madness but through the same cold logic the orcs themselves use.
The contention lies in neither side being able to yield and both determined to batter the other into submission.
So with the conflict on fairly even ground, the story takes another tack in terms of interest.

Characters.

Instead of the heroes as pawns to advance a moral/political message, the orc and goblin protagonists now become individuals lost in a sea of choices. The game of course can only support so many and guides many decisions because of its construction, but story-wise these characters could do anything they pleased and forge for themselves their moral outlook.
Being an orc doesn't make you either good or even on the orc side, and the same goes for humanity. If you were a human in Lord of the Rings you'd have to side with Gondor to be morally upright because Sauron is 'the lord of evil', but in Orcs and Men your convictions could carry you to helping out the besieged but cruel orcs or the oppressive but civilized humans.

And it's a special type of game where the protagonists themselves admit that their fight is because of personal interest.
Ezio and Altair and Kratos are quick to declare that the universe owes them victory. They are not just fighting for personal goals, they are fighting against an unthinking and evil enemy that needs to be destroyed.

But in Orcs and Men you have characters whose approach to conflict is as blasé as business. You need to kill the emperor not because he's evil but because the humans are united by his influence.

As one orc says 'After he's gone the throne will be empty, and we can take advantage of that!'

So even your protagonists have completely personal reasons that they acknowledge in the conflict to come.
This might seem to be amorality, but there's a difference between amoral characters and an amoral universe.
The fact that the goblin does feel sad about being lonely and the human high inquisitor breaks down in tears of his fallen soldiers indicates that morality exists, even if the characters themselves try to ignore it.

So what is the enemy of my enemy?

Something a hell of a lot more interesting then evil versus less then evil.

Okay, so, as if I couldn't be happier to already have this preordered and fully paid off, now Raven is gonna be in it, the only downside is this ain't Tara Strong Raven.....in fact this one kind of scares a bit of piss outta me with that voice alone.....

[link]

Joking aside this is pretty damn interesting, now all they need is Powergirl and we'll really have a party. And for a quick recap the roster is going to include the following mother fuckers;
-Batman (my nigga)
-Superman
-The Flash
-Wonder Woman
-Catwoman
-Green Arrow
-Green Lantern
-The Joker
-Harley Quinn
-Solomon Grundy
-Nightwing
-Bane
-Shazam (a.k.a. Captain Marvel)
-Black Adam
-Cyborg
-Lex Luthor (who's straight up pimping in his signature Anti-Superman Hulkbuster Armor)
-Aquaman (who will no doubt be the most broken character with his ability to summon Cthulhu)
-Deathstroke (a.k.a. the guy that Deadpool ripped off)
-Hawkgirl
-Sinestro
-Goddamn Doomsday

As if I couldn't look more down on Marvel VS. Capcom 3's roster. As if I couldn't be more happy that Warner Bros. owns the team behind Mortal Kombat. As if my inner DC fanboy couldn't squeee any goddamn harder! I reaklly hope Power Girl gets in there somehow (even if only as DLC), if not, well, THIS ROSTER IS STILL FUCKING AWESOME!!
________________________________________

And here's Angry Joe playing the demo and giving his impressions thus far on the actual game; [link]
________________________________________

UPDATE; KILLER FROST & ARES TRAILER
I'm not even getting the PS3 version but I so hope they once again get Kratos in this game as a guest character.....just so that he'll get to go after an alternate Ares. I'd certainly find it hilarious, hell what would be more hilarious is if Kratos was not only put in this game but got his own story mode that has him interacting with Wonder Woman.

[link]

- "What treachery is this?  Is this what passes a warrior in the future?
Hiding behind automatic weapons, believing you're a badass bastard
Let me tell you something, soldier, you may think you're a one man army
You may be wearing a helmet, but I can still see that you're smarmy!

Desist trying to bore me, first person future shooter of lame
I'm the god-slaying warrior, you gun-slingers are all the same
Your armor's no match for my chains and my pecs!
So go back to outer space, and bang Cortana in cyber sex!"

- "You wanna talk trash, Mr. Destroyer of the World?
I saved my planet and species four times, you just killed your little girl.
My story's lore involves backstory, comics, and books to flesh it out
Yours is self-righteous Wangst rage, a murdering psychopathic lout

You blame all your problems on the Gods?  My, how unique.
I save civilians, you kill them, you war-mongering freak
I'd take Cortana over Aphrodite, cuz I know where that goddess has been.
And my armor, Ghost of Sparta, looks better than your coating of sin!

- "How DARE you invoke the tragedy of my family?
There isn't going to be enough health packs to save thee from me!
I don't give a damn about morals, and that's why I will always kick more ass than you
You're an army's momma boy, and when they're done, they'll melt you down into glue

Your fanboys are rage-quitting, camping elitists who worship their Xbox
I'm dominating the world while you're fighting Zerglings on dead rocks!
My blades will rip you to pieces, my sword will pierce your heart
As your God of War, soldier, you WILL know your part!

I'll tear you apart faster than I did the Mortal Kombat roster
More brutal than your pussy training camp, you Doomguy imposter
My presence is so grand, they rerelease the PS3 in my honor
So get ready, Chief, you're going to be an involuntary blood donor!"

- "I know my part, sir, and that is to finish this fight
So go die for the fifth time or something, I haven't got all night
You think you're so special because you busted out of Hades?
I've fought the galaxy's worst, you're not worth a Sticky Grenade

And by the way?  Your baldness doesn't make you a badass
If someone handed you a comb, you would have to take a pass
Look at that!  Colin Mocharie called, he wants his look back
You chrome-domed fivehead, your head has major hair lack

Man, you're bald!  You kill Zeus to put his beard on your head?
You may have escaped from Hades, but its your follicles that are dead
And to top it off, wait you can't, because you haven't got any HAIR
You live a brush-free life, you have no share of hair to care!

"I'm appalled by your bald, no hairs sprawled because your bald!
You can tell the skin's galled, you need hair implants installed!
Bald bald bald, ba-bald bald bald!  BALD!  You're a baldy bald bald!
So bald, you bald man you, you're bald, bald, BALD!!!"

- "Are you QUITE done pointing out I'm bald?"
- "Yeeeeeeeah, no."

- "When you lost all your hair, to the Gods you must have bawled
Do your enemies see themselves on your head's reflection before they get mauled?
I was blinded in the furthest reaches of the universe, and the Armada was enthralled
There's no screams in space, but they can still hear that you are, point of fact, BALD!"

- "Seriously, you're like Hera, I just want to snap your neck
My games are TRUE fighting, yours is swatting darn bugs from heck
So, Master Chief, prepared to be tea bagged by the God of War
Because unlike you, faceless Gary Stu, I know what I'm fighting for!

"So when we start this battle, I won't make it easy on you
Don't mess with the best, because they you get 'pwned' like a 'noob'
Your puny armor and guns and rides won't save you, you haven't got long
Violence isn't the answer, I just that question quite bloodily wrong!"

- "Let's talk about games, if you really want to
You're releasing Ascension against the expansion of STARCRAFT 2?!
You're setting yourself up to be a real Greek tragedy
But hey, that's just like you, because you ain't got no strategy!"

…
…
…



- "P.S. - You are BALD!"
- "Look, my wife liked the look, okay?!"

Deadliest Debate Six

Greetings one and all, and welcome! I am your host and moderator: ScarecrowsMainFan, Scarecrow for short.  I trust you are all well this fine evening? You are? GOOD!

Why am I talking like this? All will be revealed in time! Last week, we witnessed a battle of fearsome proportions as the Jedi, the masters of the Force, took on the savage Xenomorphs. Most of you seemed to be of the opinion that a group of Jedi (usually mixed) could take on as many as a hundred Xenos! Very well, it seems that once again the universe is safe from danger… for now!

But this week, we're going old school. I mean really old school. ANCIENT GREEK old school! That's right, it's time for two fighters to enter into the Deadliest Warrior Arena, where only one can survive. This week, watch as we witness a battle to the death between…

Kratos

VS!

Wonder Woman

Yes, while each warrior is heavily influenced by Greek culture, they are otherwise completely different. One strives for peace, the other war. One possess the blessings of the gods themselves. One killed all of those gods. Now before we begin, let me tell you about…

Kratos:

The Ghost of Sparta; Kratos barely needs an introduction. As a leader of the Spartan army, Kratos was nearly beaten by the Barbarian hordes, and called on the god Ares for aid. The god agreed, for a price; and thus began Kratos long servitude to the gods. This lead Kratos to do many terrible things, the worst of which included killing his own family. This act alone caused Kratos to be cursed, with ashes of his family affixed to his skin for the rest of his life.

Eventually, Kratos managed to kill Ares, followed by nearly every other god and titan in the Greek pantheon. This caused many great catastrophes, and cost many innocent lives. But Kratos cared nothing for them; only his vengeance mattered. Over the years, Kratos has collected numerous weapons and magics, all of which were put to use for his one and only goal: Revenge. Any being, mortal or god, who slights Kratos is doomed to feel the full extent of his wrath.

Physically, Kratos is far stronger then any mortal. During a battle with Hercules, who in Greek myth is considered to be without peer in terms of strength, he constantly proved to be the stronger. He was even able to tear off the head of the sun god Helios with nothing but his bare hands. This strength is assumed to come from him being the son of Zeus, with a partial increase in strength after he absorbed the soul of Hades.

In addition to his vast strength, he also possesses incredible agility and speed (about that of an olympic level athlete). He is capable of sensing danger and possesses great skills and accuracy with all forms of weapons and magic. He is also able to regenerate from most wounds at a fast rate, though he didn't regenerate from the scar on his stomach caused by the Blade of Olympus and the scar over his right eye caused by Ares. Due to these abilities, Kratos is able to challenge monsters and even the Gods themselves. Kratos also possesses high resistance to most forms of attack and magic that would easily kill most humans or magical beings.

But it is weapons where Kratos really shines. Over the years he has collected an arsenal that is both vast and terrible. With it, Kratos can attack at virtually any range. His arsenal includes:

Close Range Weapons:

The Gauntlet of Zeus: A heavy punching weapon that deals great amounts of damage. However, it is very slow.

Blade of Artemis: This is a large, cumbersome blade given to Kratos by the goddess Artemis. It is quite slow, but can decapitate a minotaur in a single swing.

Arms of Sparta: A Spartan Spear and Shield, can be thrown and will always return, but don't seem much stronger then a regular shield and spear.

Thera's Bane: Taken from the Titan Thera, this power can imbue the Blades of Exile with fire.

Barbarian Hammer: A slow but powerful melee weapon, Kratos can deliver powerful slams and smashes, and also summon legions of souls.

Spear of Destiny: Kratos can perform deadly swipes and stabs, and can also fire dangerous piercing projectiles at enemies.

Nemean Cestus: Taken from Hercules, this weapon can be used to perform impressive combos, yet slow ones compared to the other weapons. Kratos could make shockwaves by slamming them into the ground.

Blade of Olympus: A weapon created by Zeus to end the war with the Titans, this weapon has the power to kill a god. However, it's use puts a strain on the user, limiting its use. This explains why Kratos didn't use it all the time once he'd gotten it.

Mid Range Weapons & Magic:

Efreet: A fire demon, it creates a wave of flames around Kratos.

Charon's Wrath: The mask of the ferryman, it fires a blast of necrotic magic that eats away at foes. However, its range is not very far, and its duration is not long.

Blades of Exile: (also called the Blades of Chaos, or the Blades of Athena) The most iconic weapons Kratos uses, some form of these always exists throughout each of his adventures. They are a pair of razor sharp swords with chains that connect the hilts of the swords to his arms.

Poseidon's Rage: This calls down lighting to strike foes in Kratos' immediate vicinity (a 10ft circle with Kratos at the center).

Medusa's Gaze: The head of a gorgon, this allows Kratos to turn his enemies into stone. However, the bigger or stronger the opponent, the longer it takes, and it is possible to run out of magic before the transformation is complete.

Scourge of Erinys: This creates a sort of 'negative space' which pulls matter towards it. Any creature that touches it is struck by painful shockwaves.

Horn of Boreas: A horn that when struck against the ground, releases a pulse of magic that can freeze foes solid. But, like the head of Medusa, the larger or stronger the foe, the more it can resist the magic.

Cronos' Rage: A slow moving floating ball of lightning.

Atlas Quake: Kratos strikes the ground, causing earthquakes near him (only works on non-flying enemies).

Claws of Hades: Taken from the god of the underworld himself, these serrated hooked weapons allow Kratos to summon the souls of monsters (either a multitude of small monsters, or one big monster) briefly. More sinisterly, he can use them to pull out the soul of his opponent, and absorb it into himself. That said, this takes a lot of effort, and is best used if the opponent is exhausted.

Nemesis Whip: Made by Hephaestus, It is a pair of triple blades chained together. It possess the power to project electricity.

Head of Helios: The head of the Sun God, this dismembered head can project beams of intense light, blinding a foe.

Army of Sparta: Kratos summons a phalanx of Spartan spirits to protect him via spears and arrows.

Long Range:

Light of Dawn: Balls of pure energy that Kratos can hurl at his enemies.

Zeus' Fury: This allows Kratos to hurl bolts of lightning.

Army of Hades: This allows Kratos to summon the souls of undead warriors to fly at his foes. Unlike the Claws of Hades, this can only summon human souls.

Eye of Atlantis: A relic from the sunken city, it fires a concentrated beam of electricity to stun foes, and destroy weaker ones.

Typhon's Bane: A bow-like weapon that fires blasts of wind.

Bow of Apollo: This bow is similar to Typhon's Bane, however it fires arrows of flame, instead of wind.

Special Weapons & Magic: These are items or magics that don't necessarily have an offensive purpose, but can be used as such. This allows includes defensive items.

Sun Shield: This is what it sounds like. Taken from the Temple of Helios, this magical shield can be used to block attacks, and in some cases return them.

Poseidon's Trident: This allows Kratos to spend an indefinite amount of time underwater, no matter how deep.

Golden Fleece: Kratos' preferred defense system. This is a golden armlet which Kratos can use to reflect attacks and projectiles back at their sender. Of course, to be effective, he has to raise it in time.

Icarus Wings: A pair of feathered wings that Kratos takes from Icarus. With them, he can glide short distances while jumping and float on air currents. He CAN NOT however, fly.

Boots of Hermes: These allow Kratos to increase his speed for a short time, at the cost of some magic. These greaves allow Kratos to make a short dash forward, ramming through enemies and throwing them aside, as well as giving him the ability to run alongside or up walls.

Rage of (Gods/Titans/Sparta): Whatever it's called, this is where Kratos flies into a rage, and for a very brief time, all his powers are strengthened.

Now, one would think that with all these weapons Kratos would be nigh unbeatable. You would be wrong.

Kratos, while being smart enough to lead a Spartan army, is often reckless to the point of stupidity. He single-mindedly pursues his goals, regardless of the consequences to himself or others. He will often let himself get hit in order to try and cause his opponent damage. Also, despite being constantly lied to by others, Kratos is often tricked, be it by gods or Titans.

Kratos also only possess a limited amount of magic, which regenerates very slowly. With few exceptions, all of Kratos' weapons use magic in some form or fashion. Without magic, Kratos would be unable to summon souls, fire elemental arrows, use either the head of Medusa or Helios, etc. etc. Because of this, Kratos must use his magic wisely, which due to his recklessness is often not the case. Kratos is a powerful warrior capable of taking down gods and monster; but he often accomplishes this through sheer brute force and ferocity. He never, in any of the games, fights an opponent who is smarter then him.
-------------------------

Wonder Woman:

No matter what version of the story you read, some things stay the same: Diana (her real name) is a warrior princess of the Amazons from the island of Themyscira. She left that island in hope of spreading the ideals of love, peace, and sexual equality to the "world of men".

Her exact origins have changed somewhat over time. In the past, she was molded from clay by her mother Hipplyta, and then had life breathed into her. As of the 2011 DC reboot, this is no longer the case. Now is a demigoddess; the daughter of Hipplyta and Zeus.

Mystical in nature, Wonder Woman possess powers far beyond that of mere mortals. As a child she was blessed by six of the olympian gods, which granted her various metahuman abilities (except Aphrodite, who blessed Diana with great beauty and a loving heart).

Demeter, the goddess of agriculture and fertility, blessed Diana with strength drawn from the Earth spirit Gaea, making her one of the physically strongest heroes in the DC Universe and the strongest female heroine of all in the DC Universe. How strong is she? Well, besides holding her own against the likes of Superman and Captain Marvel, she has also been observed assisting in preventing large chunks of the Moon from crashing onto the Earth. Furthermore, unlike most of her contemporaries in Man's World, Diana is willing to use deadly force, which gives her more options to deal with opponents as circumstances dictate. This means Kratos won't get a free pass just because he's fighting a superhero.

Athena, the goddess of wisdom and war, granted Diana great wisdom, intelligence, and military prowess. Athena's gift has enabled Diana to master over a dozen languages (including those of alien origin), multiple complex crafts, sciences and philosophies, as well as leadership, military strategy, and armed and unarmed combat. She can mimic voices, although it is more difficult for her to mimic a man's voice. More recently, Athena bound her own eyesight to Diana's, granting her increased empathy.

Artemis, goddess of the hunt, animals, and the Moon, graced Diana with the Eyes of the Hunter and Unity with Beasts. The Eyes of the Hunter ability gives Diana a full range of enhanced senses, including telescopic vision and super hearing. Unity with Beasts grants her the ability of empathy particularly that to communicate with all forms of animal life and to calm even the most ferocious of beasts.

Hestia, goddess of hearth and home, granted Diana "sisterhood with fire, that it might open men's hearts to her." This power has been shown to control the "Fires of Truth," which Diana wields through her lasso, making anyone bound by it unable to lie. This ability also grants her resistance to both normal and supernatural fire.

Hermes, the messenger god of speed, granted Diana superhuman speed and the ability to fly. She is one of the fastest beings (obviously slower then the Flash Family and an equal to Superman). By concentrating, Diana can mystically defy the laws of gravity and propel herself through the air to achieve flight. She is capable of flying at speeds approaching half the speed of light. She is swift enough to deflect bullets, lasers, and other projectiles with her virtually impenetrable bracelets. Her brain can process information at an incredibly fast rate.

All versions of Diana depict her as a masterful athlete, acrobat, fighter and strategist, trained and experienced in many ancient and modern forms of armed and unarmed combat, including exclusively Amazonian martial arts. Batman even noted that she is the greatest melee fighter of all.

While not invulnerable, she is capable of withstanding great concussive force, shrugging off high-powered rifle fire with some pain but little injury, being knocked through a building, and even surviving a warp-core explosion. She is durable enough to survive the rigors of space until she runs out of breath. While her superhuman strength affords her great resistance to blunt-force trauma, her skin can be cut by weapons if they are sharp enough. Her muscles do not produce lactic acids, giving her great stamina.

However, this does not negate that fact that weapons of a mystical nature can injure her. Diana can have her soul pulled out, or be impaled by the Blade of Olympus. Magic is also capable of doing some damage to her, with varying success.

But just because she has superpowers does not mean that Diana does not carry weapons. Like Kratos, Diana has an arsenal of powerful god-forged weapons at her disposal, the difference being Diana did not once kill anyone for hers.

Her signature weapon is the Lasso of Truth; forged by Hephaestus from the golden girdle of Gaea. It is virtually indestructible; the only times it has been broken were when truth itself was challenged. Hippolyta claims that not even Hercules can break it. The Lasso burns with a magical aura called the Fires of Hestia, forcing anyone within the Lasso's confines to be truthful.

The Golden Tiara: This accessory doubles as a dagger and a throwing weapon, returning to her like a boomerang. Its sharpness and mystical nature proved enough to cut even Superman. With Diana's strength, if thrown hard enough it could prove deadly if it hit the right spot.

Diana occasionally uses additional weaponry in formal battle, such as ceremonial golden armor with golden wings, war-skirt, chest-plate, and a golden helmet in the shape of an eagle's head. She also possesses a sword forged by Hephaestus that is sharp enough to cut the electrons off an atom.

Other weapons include a double bladed battle axe, a spear similar to that of a Spartan, and at one point a long bow. These weapons were not overtly magical, with the only enchantments on them being to keep them sharp and nearly unbreakable.

Her greatest defense outside of any armor though, are her bulletproof bracelets. They were formed from the remnants of Athena's legendary shield, the Aegis, to be awarded to her champion. These forearm guards have thus far proven indestructible and able to absorb the impact of incoming attacks, allowing Wonder Woman to deflect automatic weapon fire and energy blasts. Diana can also slam the bracelets together to create a wave of concussive force capable of making Superman's ears bleed. Recently, she gained the ability to channel Zeus's lightning through her bracelets as well. Zeus explained to her that this power had been contained within the bracelets since their creation, because they were once part of the Aegis, and that he had only recently unlocked it for her use.

Diana is a powerful warrior, and not afraid of using deadly force if necessary. That said, her time amongst the Justice League has made her often only take a life as a last resort. Thus, she may allow her opponent one shot to many before she cuts loose. Also, it should be noted that her ceremonial armor is just that: ceremonial. It is not nearly as durable as her bracelets. Finally, her powers of empathy, when used against a particularly dark or warped mind, may cause slight mental backlash, with effects ranging from headaches, nausea, and emotional flux. However, this rarely happens, given Diana's training; but it is still a factor to be considered.

-------------------------

There you have it ladies and gentlemen! These are your combatants, and it is time to begin! For the next week we shall debate which of these two demigods would best the other in battle to the death.

Assume the battlefield is a neutral ground, benefiting both warriors equally.

Will Kratos, the slayer of Olympian gods be able to best their most blessed champion? Will Wonder Woman be able to put down a man with not but fury and vengeance in his heart? YOU decide!

For more information about Kratos; check out: [link] or [link]

For more information about Wonder Woman; check out: [link]

If you feel I have forgotten any important information, please bring it up in your comment.

If you have any questions, please ask.

Now that you have the information, please comment. Make an argument for your side. And when others comment, comment on those! Let's get some interesting discussion up in here. Be prepared to explain your opinion, or have X-Factors thrown your way. For instance, I may ask how Kratos would handle Diana if she was suddenly given her Star Sapphire Ring which she had during the Blackest Night Saga. Or how Wonder Woman would deal with Kratos if he suddenly regained his God of War stature. But don't think I'm the only one who can ask you that, your fellow debaters might as well.

It is now July 15: 11:59 pm. Unless otherwise stated, the debate will close July 22: 11:59 pm.

BEGIN!

I have not seen any of Sony's E3 conference this year and only found out about KH3 on tumblr, if new details cropped up while I was writing this, well, too late now. What I wrote is what I wrote and I really needed to vent out before I suddenly developed a brain tumor or a peptic ulcer, that's what these journals are for in the end, personal health preservation. Anyway here's the E3 trailer for Kingdom Hearts 3....[link]
_____________________________________________________________

OhmygoshOhmygoshOhmygoshOhmygoshOhmygoshOhmygosh
OhmygoshOhmygoshOhmygoshOhmygoshOhmygoshOhmygosh
OhmygoshOhmygoshOhmygoshOhmygoshOhmygoshOhmygosh
KingdomHearts3OhmygoshtheyarefinallymakingKingdomHearts3
AtlonglastThankyousomuchTetsuyaNomuraforfinallygettingtowhat
couldbethelastchaptertothestoryandwe'llpossiblyanactualresolution
tooneofmyfavoritegamefranchisesofalltimeOhmygoshOhmygosh
OhmygoshOhmygoshKingdomHearts3isindevelopementatlast!
OhmygoshKingdomHearts3isgonnabeanexclusiveforthePS4-Oh no.

No.

No!

NO!



NO-NO-NO-NO-BULLSHIT-BULLSHIT-BULLSHIT-BULLSHIT!!

Oh Jesus no! Now I hava to get a PS4 because once again a major Kingdom Hearts game is a privilege reserved only for those who submit to the Sony Herd. It happened, it actually fucking happened, the one thing I didn't want to see happen! The possible final chapter of one of my favorite game franchises coming out only on the Playstation 4! The only thing that would actually get me to buy a PS4 despite having a PERFECTLY GOOD WII U THAT HAS THE GRAPHICAL CHOPS TO SATISFY YOU UP-TIGHT, BIASED, SPOILED THIRD PARTY DEVELOPERS and it's a fucking reality! YOU MOTHER FUCKERS!!!

And suppose Sony believes that Microsoft are fucking geniuses with the Xbox One and decide to do the same kind of shit with the PS4?! WHAT THEN?! I'll fucking tell you what then, this franchise will be dead to me! I would rather let Xehanort buttfuck the universe of my beloved Disney childhood classics than have Sony buttfuck me with some hidden fee bullshit!! Have fun storming the castle without me Sora! You were dumb enough to not let Nintendo set up a convenient portal to your world so you're on your own, FUCK YOU!!

Or hey maybe the PS4 won't be like the Xbox One! Maybe it will be just as user friendly as the Wii U......except once again I'll have to coax my relatives to pony up the possible 600 fucking dollars to buy yet another goddamn video console ALL FOR ONE MEASLY FUCKING GAME THAT MIGHT END UP BEING THE ONLY THING I WOULD EVER WANT TO PLAY ON THE GODDAMN THING!!!
Infamous Second Son?! I don't fucking care! Sly Cooper 5? Don't fucking need it! Destiny?! I don't even play MMOs! God of War 5?! I've had my fill of God of War! What the fuck else would I want with the PS4?! WHAT ELSE WOULD I WANT?!

And hell if the Wii U library picks up serious steam then shit there will be even less incentive to buy the PS4 for anything other than Kingdom Hearts 3! Hell it's because of the first Kingdom Hearts that I even bothered with the PS2, bastard was lucky enough to have games I'd want to play besides that one, which eventually would contribute to why I even bothered getting a PS3 which I thought would have Kingdom Hearts 3 already (not to mention Final Fantasy Versus XIII but that's another matter)! But then there's the PSP I got just so I can play Birth by Sleep, y'know how many games I got for that thing? Two, including BBS. The other is GoW Ghost of Sparta, when I say I've had my fill of Kratos I really have had my fill of Kratos! A whole library of games plus the ability to play PS1 games I got off of PSN on the PSP.....and yet out of all of that I still only have two PSP games, guess nothing else got my attention enough that I'd want to buy more games. And now my PSP just sits there next to my original DS and Game Boy Color. And really that's what I worry will happen with the PS4, there will be one game, ONE GAME, that I really want to play badly but then the rest of it's library will turn out to be so uninteresting to me I could very well make do without even owning the PS4 in the first place!

And again, what if Sony decides to pull similar bullshit as Microsoft is doing with the Xbox One? I'm not the only one who is worried about this, everyone is saying that all Sony needs to do at this point to beat Microsoft is not be total cum buckets with their upcoming console like Microsoft is. I'm not much for the PS4 but so far they are doing just that, but frankly I wouldn't find it surprising if suddenly Sony decides to take the Xbox One approach, they aren't exactly the best of people when it comes to the business end of video games (in fact they are damn lucky EA exists to outshine them in douchery). If that actually happens, God forbid, I don't want that to happen but if it does, well, not even the possible final chapter to a game franchise I've stood by for years will ever get me to buy the PS4. And if Tetsuya Nomura would rather die than see KH3 on the Wii U then he can go fuck himself cause I will not follow him to the bottom of the sea should this ship goes down because of all this bullshit.

Frankly if they were gonna just have it be a Sony exclusive anyway the least they can fucking do is also have it on the PS3 like everyone thought it would be on in the first place! But no, it's most likely gonna be exclusive to the PS4 for reasons that no human being could possibly comprehend. I mean really, does Kingdom Hearts seem like the kind of franchise that actually needs a semi-custom accelerated processing unit, an 8-core AMD x86-64 CPU....and about 8 GB of GDDR5 unified system memory with a maximum bandwidth of 176 GB/s-goddamn this wiki article is a convoluted mess of text and terms-does KH3 really need all that horse power? Ooooooh Sora is able to ride on top of a swarm of basic shadow Heartless going up the walls. They couldn't do anything as impressive like that before......besides that one fight in KH2.....and those rooms flooded with those flying bird beak heartless.....yeah I don't it needs to be on the PS4 for any reason other than the same biased favoritism towards Sony consoles that is still prevalent even now, why else would there be "no games play on the Wii U"? Because Nintendo is just dragging their feet and not releasing the next Smash Bros. already? No! Because all these third party developers are still treating the Nintendo console like kid shit and still acting like games such as Kingdom Hearts (which is about as kid shit as it gets by the way) is too "adult" and "hardcore" for the family friendly Nintendo crowd. Remind me again what the last KH game was available on? Sure wasn't the fucking PSVita!

So no, it doesn't excite me they are finally coming out with Kingdom Hearts 3, it pisses me the fuck off! Not only is the blatant sucking of Sony's dick on full display yet again but we still don't know how Sony is gonna respond to the Xbox One, whether they will do the smart thing and be as consumer friendly as the Wii U or just outright fuck up by turning the PS4 into the Sony equivilant of the Xbox One! And besides all that, KH3 is now the only incentive I have to possibly buy the PS4, no other game interests me in the slightest. And on top of all that, the idea of just abandoning this franchise outright because of how badly Dream Drop Distance went down in the story is looking like the best course of action anyway, and if I do decide to give up on KH altogether, well, there goes my incentive to give the PS4 a chance. Frankly I really do hope something happens that makes me give up on Kingdom Hearts, I'm hoping they shoe horn Phineas and Ferb or Kim Possible as major characters, blatantly stick the two fucktards from FFXIII-2 for total fan service or even just have one of the worlds be based on that god-awful CGI Clone Wars cartoon, that way I can give up on this franchise and spare myself the headache of blowing 600 dollars on a console that doesn't even have backwards compatibility!

End of Line!

In case we aren't getting anymore DLC, here are some ideas I would like to see implimented into a sequel

First of all the customization (Minions,icon, backgrounds), stage mashups, story, and tournament mode return

Arcade mode
Just your standard Arcade mode featuring 7 Fights then the Boss Polygon Man

Minigames
Things like chopping contests, rap battles, and treasure hunting could be done

Boss mode:
You can fight various bosses from the games, large or small
Boss suggestions:
Level 1: Negativitron
Level 2: Chimera (Player Sized)
Level 3: Hades
Level 4: Devil Jin (Player sized)
Level 5: 2 Chimeras (Player sized)
Level 6: Devil Trigger old Dante (Yes a one on one match with a permanently Devil Triggered old Dante)
Level 7: Zeus 2-Parts (Player sized and then large variant)
Level 8: Strikeforce Ma Dai (Player sized)
Level 9: Large Chimera
Level 10: Helghast Army
Level 11: Baron Praxis
Level 12: The Beast
Level 13: The Djinn
Level 14: Iron Maiden
Level 15: Clockwork
Level 16: Order-Sol (Player sized)
Level 17: Izanami No Okami (Persona 4)
Level 18: Chop Chop Master Onion 2-Part (Player sized and then giant)
Level 19: Clunk
Level 20: Senator Armstrong
Final Level: Polygon Man

All Star Boss Mode: (Unlocked after defeating Polygon Man, this mode features more challenging bosses, but yields great rewards such as costumes, extremely awesome All Star Lounge items, and an extra secret character...)

Level 1: Devil Jin and Devil Trigger Dante
Level 2: Order Sol and Strikeforce Ma Dai
Level 3: Baron Praxis and Clunk
Level 4: Hades (Giant) and Zeus (Player sized)
Level 5: Onslaught, countless Helghast soldiers and chimera
Level 6: Dream Runner and Drekavec (DmC)


(I will constantly update this if I find more choices)

All Stars Lounge (Replaces the main menu)
A large area where you can place items unlocked in challenge, arcade, story, and boss mode). There will be terminals to get to each mode. You can also choose different NPC's to show up in it as well

Character Color Editor:
Would be similar to Street Fighter x Tekken's

Gallery Mode:
Here you are able to listen to music from the various games, view character bios, and view all the items and NPC's you've unlocked so far

Now the roster (Note some characters were cut and this isn't everyone i'd like in just a toned down list trying to keep to a one character per Third Party format)

First Party Returning:
Sly ( [link] )
Toro
Nariko
Jak and Daxter
Kratos
Ratchet and Clank
Cole/Evil Cole (Would be two characters on one slot)
Nathan Drake
Parappa
Sackboy
Sir Daniel Fortesque
Sweet Tooth
Spike
Colonel Radec
Fat Princess
Kat
Emmett Graves

Third Party Returning:
Raiden
Old Dante/New Dante (There, now stop whining people)
Big Daddy

First Party New:
Dart Feld (Legend of Dragoon)
Jeanne D'Arc (Jeanne D'Arc PSP)
Jennifer Tate (Primal)
Iota (Tearaway)
Kutaro (Puppeteer)
Gabe Logan (Syphon Filter)
Juan Aguacate (Guacamelee)
Knack
Finn (Sorcery)
Delsin Rowe (Infamous: Second Son)
Nathan Hale (Resistance)
Wander (Shadow of the Collossus)
Carmelita Fox (Sly)
Rudy Roughnight (Wild Arms)
Raven (Gravity Rush)
Dr Nefarious (Ratchet and Clank)
Jammer Lammy (Um Jammer Lammy)
Yoshitsune Minamoto (Genji series)

Third Party New:
Jin Kazama (Tekken) or Kilik (SCV version) [link]
Yu Narukami (Persona 4)
Ma Dai (Dynasty Warriors 7-8) [link]
Sol Badguy (Guilty Gear)
Squall Leonheart (Final Fantasy VIII)
Prince of Persia (Preferably 2008 version)
Raziel (Legacy of Kain)
Crypto (Destroy All Humans) [link]
Sho Shinjo (Battle Arena Toshinden) This is one of those requests that have a 99% chance of not happening but it would be cool to have him here

KRATOS

Arguably one of the most popular (and most brutal) video game characters in recent history, Kratos has a reputation to uphold. Can he do it? Of course he can. Often ranking at No. 1 on many polls for Top PSASBR Characters, Kratos packs a punch in nearly every move he performs. His moveset consists of moves that reach enemies at long, medium and close ranges, making him extremely well-balanced. However, each move is also very powerful, racking up tons of AP in short amounts of time. He can also block attacks, something that the previously mentioned Sly Cooper can't. Not only that, but some of Kratos' moves tend to be very combo heavy as well. Despite having such powerful moves that are practically impossible to avoid, his Super moves tend to be precise. For instance, his level 1 Super move is his Blade of Olympus, which is swung forward to KO opponents, sometimes taking down more than one opponent at a time. As for his other supers, Kratos can use his level 2 super to take out foes above him and his level 3 super transforms him, giving his moves lethality for a short time. Kratos has a very difficult time catching up to certain opponents, which is due to his somewhat moderate running speed. However, his moveset often makes up for this. When it comes to his flaws, Kratos actually has a surprising amount of those. For an example, the only reliable Super move that Kratos has is his last one. The rest of them are easy enough to dodge. His speed puts him at a disadvantage, as there are plenty of fighters that can outrun him, and if an opponent is far enough away, they have the potential to truly devastate Kratos with long-range attacks, despite having moves he can use to counter this. Ironically enough, the final flaw with Kratos is based entirely on his own popularity. This flaw wouldn't exist without it. Many gamers tend to play as Kratos, and as a result, some players may come to learn Kratos' moveset, study those moves, and take full advantage of their shortcomings.

Overall, Kratos is that go-to character for beginners that is easy to play as, is quick to master, and is also very powerful. However, should you play as him, you must time your Super moves right, lest you come up empty, and you'd better have enough range to hit the quicker opponents or ones who like shooting things. Also, you should expect to become like someone who wears their emotions on their sleeves, as Kratos has become quite predictable.