Santa Monica Studio Hiring Possibly for Two Future Projects

O boy!

@get2sammyb
Yes I remember thats exactly what he said he wanted to do in an interview.

The sequel for God of War already is my most anticipated game. I hope the other project is a new ip, and a single-player game as well.

I think i am like many where, although i expected GOW to be good, i never expected it to be possibly in my top 5 games ever. It was a wonderful experience from start to finish

Hmm tbh I hope a really good chunk of the team stays together and works on the next project together, the game was simply too phenomenal

Just as long as it’s not a samurai game set in feudal Japan. I think we’ve got that genre covered.

@PS_Nation. its god of war definitely.another masterpiece coming.the other game is probably PlayStation battle royale 2.or maybe the order 1886.sequel.word up son

We know what 1 of them is, I can only imagine what the 2nd One is 🤔

@DLB3 "strategic, multi-phase, long-term studio plan, spanning two future projects"

Sounds like GoW2 and GoW3 to me as well, before I even read your comment.

At least 1 other person on here explained to me that GoW would likely have 2 sequels, one covering Wimbluvinter (sp) - the 3 year long winter - then the last covering Ragnarok. As much as I'd prefer just 1 more game so I don't have to play thru another cliff-hanger ending, the logic made sense as it's also how the original trilogy played out. Nobody cares about Ascension it seems.

But a trilogy makes the most sense.

@rjejr Depends on how they do it. If you remove that last scene in GOW there wouldn't even be a cliff hanger. After all, the main goal of the game is achieved in the end.

@playstation1995 it might be an unpopular opinion but i would LOVE an The Order 1886 sequel

@Octane "If you remove that last scene"

I'm assuming from seeing you around so much you've played a lot of video games. How many games have you played where there's a hub world that has a means of getting to 8 other worlds and by the end of the game you still can't get to 3 of the those connected worlds? I can't recall which 3 they where, I think 2 ended in heim and 1 was Asgard. Even if we could get to the other 2 the fact is wher'e playing a game about Norse mythology, having a connection to Asgard but never going there was always going to feel incomplete. And having a game where the god of Thunder Thor is mention at least half a dozen times, if not a dozen, either by name or reputation, and then you don't get to fight him, well that game is never going to feel complete tome, it's always going to feel like a prologue.

Add to that you spend so much time in the game tryign to get to giant world adn when you do nothing happens. NTO a single giant is there. NOT a boss fight. Nor any little minions to fight. And when you realize that pathetic boss you fought 3 times int he game was actually the worst final boss fight you've ever had in any game, well it all falls apart.

And at the end of the game you realize who the kid is but that is then never explored.

The whole thing plays like chapter 1, or a prologue, or the first half or first third of a game. I feel 100% certain that after the next game releases, and the next game after that if necessary, all 3 played together will feel like 1 long game, not 2 or 3 separate games.

Not to say I felt ripped off. There was plenty to do in the game. The main story was long enough, there was enough going on, with a few of those worlds being side worlds, plus the Valkyries, so there was enough in there to justify the price. But when you look at it in retrospect after finsishing it, the 3 worlds we didn't get to go to, just shown links too, the big bad boss we all wanted to fight but never had the chance to, the father of th ebig bad boss who was rarely named btu you kwo it out there somwehre, the great reveal of the boy at the end, the cliffhanger dream. When you look at that after it's all over, well it's like reading "The Fellowship of the Ring". The fellowship dissolves at the end of that book, and end of the movie. So the book and movie ends when the fellowship ends, but nobody should feel satisfied that they got the final ending with a 3 hour movie, 4 if you watch the extended version, or a 300 page book. Yes, the fellowship is no more, they've all gone their separate ways, but it's only part of the story. GoW is so very obviously only the first part of the story.

@rjejr I think LOTR is a good comparison. Anyway, there are games that don't let you travel to all the locations on the map; The Witcher 3 is one that comes to mind. There's a gigantic map, but the game takes place in ''smaller'' areas within that map (mind you, some of these areas are still one of the biggest maps in any video game I've played). A better comparison would perhaps be the Northern Lands in Demon's Souls; it's hinted at, the archstone is present, but you never go there. I'm certain there are a few more games like that.

The reason is obviously that the game would be a lot bigger if they included them all. Maybe too big even; and I always prefer quality over quantity. Any game about Norse mythology is going to talk about the Nine Worlds, that's something you cannot avoid. I can understand why it's disappointing you don't go there; just as I thought it was a bit disappointing that Alfheim wasn't as big as Midgard when I played the game. But the game would've been too big if they had included everything; especially if every realm was as big as Midgard.

The same thing applies to Thor and Odin. You can't ignore them when the game is about Norse mythology, but if you had them all in this game, there wouldn't be a sequel. Norse mythology has a lot of interesting characters, and I'd like them to explore those before facing Thor and Odin to be honest. We all know Odin is the final fight, it's inevitable, no need to rush it. Fimbulwinter is an oft forgotten part of Norse mythology too, so I think it's neat we get to see that in the next game.

If you want to get technical; there were a few giants in the game; Atreus is technically half giant. Jörmungandr, the World Serpent, IS one of the giants, and so is the giant bird, Hræsvelg, in Helheim

And don't forget, not all giants are large in size, some are, others are not. I'm certain we'll get to see more of them in the sequels, like Sköll and Hati, the wolves that ate the Sun and Moon. I could list several dozen characters I'd like to see in the next games, so I'm fine with not fighting Odin for a while.

Anyway, I do think that this game had a clear beginning and end. Bring the ashes of Faye to the tallest mountain in all the realms. That's what you were set out to do; don't mess with the gods either, because after the original trilogy, Kratos knows that only leads to misery and death. So it's in his interest to ignore them as long as possible.

So personally speaking, Norse mythology has way too much content for one game, at least, to explore it like they did in this game. And I want them to explore it thoroughly, so I'm perfectly fine with not fighting Odin in this one. It's a bit of a catch-22. You cannot not mention Odin, but if you want it to last longer than a single game, you kinda have to ignore him story and gameplay-wise. But there's no reason not to mention him, because if you don't, well, that would be weird too. Plus I'm sure that traveling to Asgard will be just as difficult as traveling to Jötunheim, it doesn't seem like the place you can just visit at your own will, at any time.

@Octane I'm ok with not fighting Odin, but Thor seemed necessary b/c the main guy, I already forgot his name, was just lame. A little crazy, but lame. And the idiotic brothers made for nice mini bosses but nothing spectacular. And I know there were giants, but what I meant was there weren't' any giants when we got to giant land, it was just an empty area with a staircase. Even talking head was like - that looks boring, might as well leave me here, too boring to bother.

Maybe it was all too much for one game, I've never played Witcher 3 or Demon's Souls. Zelda had a pretty big world, we got to see all of that. Well almost all, a few edges weren't' reachable. Most JRPG I play have large worlds, like whole worlds, so I'm used to going everywhere.

Of course a lot of it is expectations. All I kept reading about was hwo great the game was, how there was maybe no need to for DLC and it was so huge. Not one thin gI read said "Cant' wait for the next game to fight so worthy adversaries" or "cant' wait for the rest of this story to release in the next game". B/c even if it is a full complete game, it's not even remotely a full complete story. I will nto under any circumstance buy game 2 until I know for sure if there is need for a game 3 or not to complete the main story. And the main story isn't ashes on a mountaintop, that's a side quest, the main story IS any way you slice it, Ragnarok, sped along by Kratos intervention. That IS the only story that matters. And when Asgard has fallen, then we will look back at this game and we'll all realize how it was only the beginning. And every review should have said something to that affect. "God of War: Only the Beginning"; "GoW: Pt 1: The Norse Trilogy"; "GoW: Baby Steps Towards Asgard". Something. I went into this thinking it was 1 and done, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered.

@rjejr Well, that's just personal differences! Baldur was definitely the main guy. Thor wasn't really in the game at all. It would be like expecting to fight Zeus in the first God of War, but that never happened in the first game either. Of course, you can always add more to a game. However, my playthrough lasted 80 hours, and I think that was more than enough. I liked the low-key moments, the side stories you wouldn't hear, or the side quests you wouldn't get to play if they bombarded this game with all the gods from Norse mythology. And to their credit, their stories follows Norse mythology in a very clever way. Baldr's death in Norse mythology is said to be the one of the first events that lead up to Ragnarök; and Thor doesn't die until the very end, in a fight with Jörmungandr, the World Serpent.

I also think they explained in-game that most of the giants were killed by the Aesir gods during the Aesir Vanir war. If there were any left, that wouldn't make sense either.

The Witcher is bigger than GOW in terms of playtime, but that game strongly relies on its narrative, and it's more a traditional open world, so hundreds of small side quests, ''points of interest'' on the map, etc. Zelda was pretty empty IMO, and that game felt big for the sake of being big; with only a handful of repeated enemies spread across the map. I don't think you can compare them 1-to-1. God of War is definitely more linear in level design, like a Metroidvania. The result is better level design (IMO). And combat is a big focus of course, more fleshed out than the combat in TW3, and definitely more complex than in Zelda.

You need to make choices while designing a game, and Norse mythology with its Nine Realms brings a lot of issues with it. So you either have to leave some out, or you have to half-arse them to include them all. This is especially true if want some structure and level design in the game, and not some big sprawling open map. I rather play three games knowing there's enough time to explore everything, and tell the stories they want to tell, than rush through the entirety of Norse mythology in one game.

I don't disagree that this game also works as a set-up for something bigger, but I don't see how it was lacking. I liked the personal story, it was incredibly well-written, and it concluded with the thing they set out to do, reach the highest peak in all the realms. And in the end, it's quality that matters, not quantity. And I personally think I've gotten more than enough quality time out of it.

@DLB3 I was getting a definite feeling of deja vu typing all of that. It was originally longer then I cut some out as I realized I was repeating myself, but I didn't cut all of it out b/c I wasn't sure if Octane was involved in my original conversation. Reading your post now it's coming back to me. And Baldur still sucks as a GoW nemesis. Did I mention to you that I really liked him as a minor crazy side character, but he's really out of his league fighting Kratos, every fight it seems like Kratos is just toying with him b/c he can't be bothered, until he gets bored and ends it. He'd make a better villain in a DmC game, he and Dante can taunt each other to death. Actually I can imagine him now as a Wolverine villain in a Marvel anime. While I was playing the game he reminded me of Roughhouse, a somewhat forgettable long time Wolverine villain from back in the late 80's early 90's.

@Octane I think you may have been swayed by this game on your knowledge of Norse mythology. Unless you just looked all that up after playing, but it sounds like you knew beforehand. For most of us we got our Norse education form Marvel comics, so Baldur is a very minor character, Thor is huge, so is Loki, and of course Odin.

So if you polled people going in, people who only about about Norse mythology from Marvel movies, most would probably have expected a Thor battle going in. And if they didn't expect it going in they probably would have halfway though. Most people don't know about Baldur or Vimbulvinter, it's not common knowledge. I know some from college courses in the 80's, but it's been awhile. So yeah, I was expecting Thor as final battle. Not Odin, he's an old guy, who cares, Thor is the money maker.

"I don't disagree that this game also works as a set-up for something bigger, but I don't see how it was lacking."

What was lacking was the promotion for this game explaining that it was a set-up for a bigger story and not a one and done. "Come play as Kratos fighting Baldur" is just not as exciting as "Come and play as Kratos fighting Thor". Had the 2 wolves been waiting for him in Johtunheim, or Thor, or anyone to fight, it changes the ending up a bit. Too anticlimactic for my liking.

@rjejr I guess, but I don't think it's fair that a game should be tailored to people who're only familiar with Marvel Thor. I get that most people are, but that's hardly Norse mythology. So I'm kinda glad they aren't doing that.

I think I'm a bit oblivious to anticlimax, I'm also one of the few who thought the ending of Firewatch was satisfactory, but I also know I'm in the minority.

@Octane "who thought the ending of Firewatch was satisfactory"

I'm a Browncoat waiting for Firefly to return, we're never satisfied.

@rjejr Wait, what? I'm talking about the game

@Octane But nobody cares about Firewatch, much less how it ended, so I'm going with a more popular "fire" addressing my discontent with GoW's ending.

@rjejr You'll come around when 2 comes out

@Octane Firewatch 2? I'm waiting for the movie starring Nathan Fillion. 🤣