Game Design 2 Journal #4: Writing the hero in the sequel

Recently I was talking to my boss at the nerd hole about the character Kratos.

We were discussing how, allegedly, the story of God of War III has a massive letdown ending. A few of my classmates gave a pretty well thought presentation on the subject, and I wanted my boss' opinion. Sadly, I had forgotten how ill informed he typically is about most everything.

We talked on, though. He said that the ending was in fact a purposeful let down, citing that the true epilogue will be made available once enough players achieve a platinum trophy in the game. The epilogue has promise, ergo, stop whining about the story having a bad end, is his argument.

I followed that up with my rationalization of the whole thing. You see, spoiler fans, Kratos aces himself at the end of God of War III in order to prevent Athena 2 from getting her hands on "Hope", the last item in Pandora's box. This, according to my classmates, is out of line for the man who just spent the last three games whuppin' the asses of everything that moved. I think it's perfectly in character, seeing how the gods (throughout the trilogy's epic story) constantly fuck over Kratos, for him to want to withhold from them anything he can guarantee the safety of. I don't blame him! But that kind of reading doesn't really fly well in the face of the game's actions (apart from the climax of the first game, a battle to save Kratos' family). You spend most of the game tearing things in half, living things, and punching gods. To suddenly punch your own ticket? Doesn't add up.

This raises my question: how do you successfully write a character into a trilogy of games?

Trilogy, sequel, roman-numeral epic...it's all the same. You need to follow the basic rules though. Always the same:

• Your hero must have a great beginning, and great end to his story. Something complete, something cyclic, that feels well considered and thoughtful. Too much today we see cliffhanger endings in the second act of a game, hinting at the next game in the series. Such advertisements are unwelcome sights, subtle hints that the developers got us this far, they have us by the stones.
• Once something is promised to be a series, don't feel obligated to leave the story hanging just because you know the next one's on its way. Final Fantasy doesn't do this, Dragon Quest doesn't do this, Grand Theft Auto and Kings Quest don't use much continuity. Some great games do though, such the Half-Life series, but even that bit it in the ass thanks to their long spans between games. Gamers were left hanging, no true ending to Half Life 2: Episode 2 existed aside from the not announced, not even rumored just kind of expected Episode 3. End your story with a bang.

The talk went on for a short while, but ultimately it made me realize that so many companies handle new iterations of franchises differently. I personally do not like when a good stand alone game gets green lit to trilogy status just cause of projected sales/mystery means. It feels shoehorned and forced.

My two cents.