Reaching the Summit: Mountains in Videogames

Summary

In the video, "Reaching the Summit: Mountains in Videogames" by OddJackalope, the creator delves into the symbolic and thematic significance of mountains in various video games. This exploration includes the inspiration drawn from real-life mountaineering and the metaphorical journey of self-discovery and confrontation with personal challenges. Through an engaging narrative, OddJackalope examines how mountains serve as both a setting and a symbol for characters' struggles and growth within games like Celeste, Jusant, and God of War. The presentation beautifully intertwines gameplay mechanics with deeper themes of perseverance, fear, and overcoming emotional barriers, encouraging viewers to appreciate the profound storytelling in gaming.

Highlights

• Mountains have a rich history and cultural significance that have inspired countless stories and mythologies. ⛰️
• Celeste uses its gameplay mechanics to symbolize inner challenges and the journey towards self-acceptance. ⚔️
• In Jusant, climbing is an engaging and intuitive process that mirrors real-world environmental and survival themes. 🌄
• God of War redefines its narrative with deep-rooted familial conflicts and emotional growth amidst grand mythological settings. ⚡️
• The video discusses how video games blend environmental storytelling with personal narratives, enriching the player's experience. 🎭

Key Takeaways

• Mountains symbolize personal growth and challenge in video games, serving as backdrops for epic quests and inner battles. 🏔️
• Games like Celeste use mountains to explore themes of self-discovery and perseverance, turning gameplay into metaphorical journeys. 🎮
• Real-life climbing stories, like that of Alex Hunold, highlight the human spirit's connection to overcoming nature’s obstacles. 🧗‍♂️
• God of War integrates mountains as metaphors for familial and emotional struggles, highlighting the convergence of relationships. 🔥
• The environment in games like Jusant emphasizes the survival and adaptation themes, offering a reflection on real-world climate issues. 🌍

Overview

The video begins with a captivating introduction to the allure and mystique of mountains both in reality and video games. OddJackalope uses this setting to explore how mountains represent monumental challenges and personal growth, drawing parallels between real mountaineering adventures and virtual journeys.

Through an in-depth analysis of games like Celeste, God of War, and Jusant, the creator highlights the storytelling power of mountains. These games not only challenge players with physical feats but also lead them through emotional landscapes, making the gaming experience intensely personal and transformative.

By examining famous real-life climbing feats, OddJackalope connects the physical act of climbing with narrative storytelling in gaming. The discussion expands into themes of resilience and mental fortitude, showing how virtual peaks can inspire players to confront and overcome their own life challenges.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction The chapter titled 'Introduction' appears to start with a music cue and the speaker expressing excitement about being in the snow, which is a rare occurrence for them. Their enjoyment is slightly interrupted by a siren in the background.
• 00:30 - 03:00: The Allure of Mountains Mountains possess a unique allure that captivates many, offering a firsthand experience of nature's grandeur. They not only serve as majestic natural phenomena but also carry profound historical and cultural significance. From religious narratives like Moses ascending to receive the Ten Commandments to the renowned climbing paths, mountains have always intrigued and challenged humankind. Their towering figures have been a part of our history for centuries, symbolizing the human desire to conquer and be amidst greatness.
• 03:00 - 04:30: Understanding the Climb In the chapter titled 'Understanding the Climb,' the text delves into the profound and multifaceted relationship between humans and mountains, as seen through the lens of various cultural myths, including those of Chinese and Native American origins. The narrative suggests that this connection has been a source of inspiration over the centuries, sparking countless real-world expeditions to conquer massive natural formations such as El Capitan, Kilimanjaro, and Everest. The chapter posits that these mountains have not only physically challenged climbers but also enriched human storytelling, creating tales of adventure and triumph that continue to captivate the human imagination. The exploration raises the question of why such stories remain so compelling over time.
• 04:30 - 14:30: Celeste's Journey In 'Celeste's Journey,' the protagonist embarks on the quintessential quest of reaching a summit, a metaphor for achieving one's goals. The journey itself is fraught with challenges, including physical hardships and introspections about human nature. As the protagonist ascends, the narrative explores the myriad paths one can take to reach their goals, emphasizing the singularity of the end objective despite numerous potential diversions. Ultimately, reaching the summit becomes synonymous with a spiritual euphoria akin to touching Heaven, symbolizing the fulfillment and joy found in achieving one's aspirations.
• 14:30 - 21:00: Alex Honnold and Free Solo This chapter discusses Alex Honnold, a renowned rock climber known for free solo climbing. It reflects on the parallels between completing long-term goals and the experience of climbing a mountain. As one progresses higher on a mountain, it reveals the traits of the universe and the mountaineer's innermost desires, even as signs of life become more scarce.
• 21:00 - 29:00: The Message of Celeste The chapter titled 'The Message of Celeste' delves into an introspective journey of self-discovery and personal challenge. As you ascend, you rely heavily on your own inner strength and intuition, confronting both internal struggles and the broader human struggle against nature. This ascent symbolizes humankind's ongoing quest since the dawn of time to reach new heights and conquer natural barriers. The narrative develops a strong connection with the protagonist, offering a unique perspective as if you are an invisible ally witnessing their extraordinary endeavors firsthand.
• 29:00 - 40:00: Jusant's Silent World In this chapter titled 'Jusant's Silent World,' themes of humankind's effort to conquer the natural world are explored deeply. The journey is depicted as an arduous and humbling experience, capturing the essence of both physical and emotional challenges. The protagonist Madeline, driven by a deeply personal motivation, embarks on her journey to climb Celeste Mountain. This chapter delves into her experiences within the first minute of her expedition, setting the stage for the transformative and introspective journey that lies ahead.
• 40:00 - 48:00: The Game's Environmental Storytelling This chapter discusses the role of environmental storytelling in the game Celeste. As the protagonist, Meline, sprints across a collapsing bridge, players are introduced to key mechanics such as jumping, dashing, and climbing. The game is noted for its focused design, with each level emphasizing these actions. The dynamic environments and challenges underscore the narrative and gameplay, reflecting the protagonist's journey up the mountain.
• 48:00 - 62:00: God of War's Father-Son Epic This chapter discusses the gameplay mechanics in 'God of War,' focusing on the father-son relationship as an epic theme. The chapter goes on to explain how different mechanics and elements, such as traffic light blocks, feathers for flying, and bubbles for propulsion, build upon each other to create engaging and creative gameplay. It highlights how player's choices all have significant impact on the game experience, making movement and action feel meaningful and satisfying.
• 62:00 - 66:00: Conclusion and Thanks The chapter concludes the analysis of the game Celeste, focusing on the balance between its challenging levels and engaging gameplay mechanics. It highlights how the game's design involves initial restraint followed by a gradual increase in movement options, contributing to its status as a quality platformer. The game is described as exceptionally difficult, emphasizing the repetitive attempts players must make to overcome certain obstacles or enemies. Despite this difficulty, the game keeps players engaged with its very quick load times, which encourages continued play and perseverance.

Reaching the Summit: Mountains in Videogames Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 [Music] I know this isn't a mountain uh but we're in the snow and it snows so rarely and where I live so oh sorry about the siren
• 00:30 - 01:00 this is a lot better than outside you never truly appreciate the magnetism of nature until you see it up close and nothing is as Majestic up close as a big ass sizable mountain mountains have some of the most remarkable histories known to humanity theyve been towering over Earth since humans were born onto it so naturally we've sought to climb them climbing mountains has been ingrained in human history since the earliest that we could record it between Moses going up to the mountain to receive the ten commands Commandments to the eight pillars of the
• 01:00 - 01:30 sky in Chinese myth between Sumer Olympus and the Native Americans the endless relationship between the human story in mountains is so far reaching I couldn't even record it in one video these stories have echoed Through the Ages and have inspired the real life conquest of these gigantic Earth monuments El Capitan kilamanjaro and Everest are just but a few of these examples that have generated some of the most inspiring stories of the past Century but why are these stories so captivating well
• 01:30 - 02:00 they're pretty simple get to the summit travel from point A to point B the goal is singular but the means to achieve it are numerous there can be any number of diversions physical and bodily harm or Reflections in The Human Condition on the way up to the summit but at the end of the day the character either makes it to the top and achieves their goal or falls short of it and scaling a mountain is the closest thing that we can feel to touching Heaven just the same way that we feel very euphoric whenever we
• 02:00 - 02:30 complete a goal of ours that we've been working on for weeks or months or even years I can't tell how many times that I've worked on a project or worked on a goal of mine for a long time and I felt like I've summoned a mountain at the end of it however much like the goals that we share with Mountaineers the journey up a mountain reveals the underlying traits of the universe they show much about the environment that we must conquer as all signs of Life begin to slip away the higher and higher that you climb they reveal the innermost desire desires
• 02:30 - 03:00 feelings and hatreds of oneself as you make the journey upwards with almost no one else to rely on but your own psyche and instincts but often most of all it reveals humankind's battle with nature man's convergence with it that it's been undertaking ever since humankind opened its eyes as we have clambered and climbed our way to the plan's Apex you're as close as you can be to going through the Journey with the character themselves you're just like a companion on their shoulder watching them do this incredible thing games can reveal the
• 03:00 - 03:30 themes of humankind's conquest of the natural world almost better than anything else but most importantly they reveal so much about [Music] the the journey will beat you down in more ways than one in Celeste you play as meline who is trying to climb up Celeste Mountain for what seems like no other reason than that she just really wants to do it within the first minute
• 03:30 - 04:00 the world begins to push back against you as meline Sprints across the bridge to begin her journey it dramatically collapses behind her causing her to nearly miss the other side until a bird lets you know that you can use this fun little Dash move Celeste is an incredibly focused title permeating through almost every aspect of gameplay each level of this platformer is built upon the only three actions that can move mateline around the world jumping dashing and climbing but each region of this mountain that the protagonist needs
• 04:00 - 04:30 to climb builds upon these mechanics in creative ways for example the traffic light blocks that you have to time your jumps to the feathers that let you fly around every single part of the level the bubbles that Propel you in one direction for what seems like an eternity and each part of the movement is satisfying because it feels like every single one of your choices has some weight to it when you jump and dash one way you can flip the joystick the other direction to cancel some of your momentum conversely with items like the traffic light blocks you can time your jumps to launch yourself across massive
• 04:30 - 05:00 stretches of the mountain it's in the initial restraint with each of these mechanics which lead into the gradual expansion of the movement options that makes Celeste such a good platformer but respectfully this game is [ __ ] hard it feels like ages pass you by as you repeatedly fling yourself in certain sections of a level getting tripped up constantly by a certain obstacle or enemy and the game encourages this monotony with extremely f fast load
• 05:00 - 05:30 times in the aformentioned satisfying movement you almost want to plunge yourself into the void farther and farther just so you can see what's at the end of the line which makes it all the more familiar of a problem when you begin to hear mine's [Music] plate the moment she takes her first step up Celeste Mountain you know that something is off with meline she's got few words for the characters that even try to talk to her and she's doubtful of
• 05:30 - 06:00 herself to even scale this first section of the game in the first place then you come face to face with part of you meline looks in a mirror and sees a seemingly dark version of her then all go silent the mirror dramatically shatters the doppelganger emerges and then vanishes as quickly as she appears later you get face to face with her again saying that she's part of you simply a concerned Observer and warns you of the dangers of climbing this
• 06:00 - 06:30 mountain but if you're paying attention the player can clearly see that this impostor is doing nothing but sewing seeds of Doubt within mine's mind and then she begins chasing you around the stages of the level it's this inner battle with this part of her that follows meline throughout the entire game it shows up in her relationship with the other characters whether benevolent or evil her Dark Side essentially causes the ghostly owner of a hotel up on the Mountaintop to turn against her despite mine wishing nothing but the best for him when she tries to
• 06:30 - 07:00 save her friend Theo who's been sidelined on the journey the doppelganger continues to lambast her with negative thoughts saying she never should have climbed the mountain in the first place eventually she tries to cast this part of her off completely causing a complete and utter Meltdown by the her other half flinging them both off the side of the mountain despite her pitfalls mine thinks that she's going about this in the right way she's deliberately ignoring these thoughts trying to escape from a part part of herself that never
• 07:00 - 07:30 wanted to climb the mountain in the first place the so-called voice of reason yet every time that she tries to escape or cast off her darkest thoughts and instincts they only come back stronger she has this almost unending want to power through her emotions and physical obstacles no matter how many times she dies just because she can she wants freedom from her circumstances but more importantly freedom from [Music] herself
• 07:30 - 08:00 [Music] Alex hunold story is one of the most famous in the climbing world free solo was a phenomenon in 2018 detailing the most impressive feat of humankind's desire to climb mountains by climbing a 3,000 plus foot cliff without any semblance of gear every single one of your relatives that you probably speak about two sentences to at Thanksgiving would have recommended this movie to you so I'm not going to try to tell the
• 08:00 - 08:30 story again but I wanted to highlight just how impressive the climbing mechanics that he does thousands of feet up in the air he grabs onto razor thin Ledges with just a couple of fingers he wedges his feet into cracks to probably get just a couple extra feet of distance and he's doing all of this while having absolutely no gear and the possibility of death right around the corner it shows an incredible amount of body control and awareness fun fact it was quite literally impossible to while recording this voice over to not physically cringe
• 08:30 - 09:00 at the sheer amount that he is off the ground without any type of any [ __ ] gear I just I can't I can't I can't do it I can't do it yet there's one key aspect that makes Alex's story especially compelling while he quickly brushes off anything supporting this fact Alex doesn't seem to experience fear Alex scales sheer Cliffs a thousand times the size of any normal Climbing gym without feeling a bit of Panic it's later confirmed that as amydala the part of your your brain that controls your
• 09:00 - 09:30 fear mechanisms doesn't respond the same way that the typical persons does and one aspect of the prescan interview shown in the 2018 documentary reveals a lot of where this comes from he's asked if he is depressed and then the film abruptly Cuts I want to be extremely clear that I am not making any assumptions of Alex Hun's mental health he has said in previous media appearances that he gravitates towards being a depressed person do you ever get depressed or have
• 09:30 - 10:00 you ever been depressed yeah yeah no I think I mean I think I kind of gravitate towards being a somewhat depressed person I don't know or I I don't know actually it's understandable his father died when he was 19 in part causing him to drop out of college after just one semester and then go pursue climbing full-time and day in and day out Alex is putting his body on the line to achieve greatness and climbing he's extremely confident in his abilities but he knows what will happen if he makes one false
• 10:00 - 10:30 move his friends and family are worried for him and rightfully so he's breaking the boundaries of what's possible knowing that he could die at any moment is there a proper place for fear or self-loathing in all of that fear shouldn't not exist there's a clear reason why humans have lived for so long as fear has helped us avoid the most dangerous things that otherwise would have wiped out our species but for those seeking the greatest Heights that nature can offer fear is going to be a part of that experience whether you like
• 10:30 - 11:00 it or not the same goes with feelings of self-loathing and depression violently responding to it by trying to altogether cast it off can often make you feel worse in nearly every aspect of your life as someone who is close to people with mental health struggles and isn't entirely mentally well himself I understand that same overexertion is often comparable to climbing mountains Alex hunold describes climbing aggressively as generating too much strain on your muscles getting too
• 11:00 - 11:30 pumped meaning it's easier for you to make costly mistakes it's about recognizing these feelings of both self-loathing and exhaustion while they're happening and trying to prevent yourself from being too emotionally pumped and trying to make your peace with these feelings and eventually that is what meline does after a long and arduous Gauntlet with the evil part of her fting tooth and nail to keep her distance from the other half of her that does not want a single thing to do with her they talk
• 11:30 - 12:00 dark meline eventually relents accepting that meline doesn't need her at all but meline chooses the opposite saying I need your help now more than ever because she does dark mine's presence would have greatly helped against the Dark Matter slaying Hotel owner against the horrors of the mirror Temple and helped her find balance in the journey to the summit and together they do just that meline and her other half combined to form a greater stronger meline one that can now double Dash they climbed
• 12:00 - 12:30 the mountain faster than ever thought before speeding through the various sections with ease that meline and I were struggling to complete just a few hours prior it takes them all the way to the top of the mountain and meline finally learns to be okay with failure despite making it there she's at peace for what feels like the first time in ages but lo and behold she does B it to the top meline says look at how far we've come and evil meline realizes she won't be able to stick around in the same way yet there's still part of each other but for now they at least get to
• 12:30 - 13:00 enjoy the view a particular interesting choice for me in Celeste is The Game's choice of never showing you the whole Mountain outside of selecting each level my friend even said to me while I was explaining the script for this video that Celeste seemed more like a cave game than a mountain game you're relyant on your and mine's experience climbing it to judge how tall this mountain even is is showing that climbing a mountain
• 13:00 - 13:30 is almost just as much about the person climbing it than it is about the mountain itself it's a deeply intimate Journey that will take you through emotional highs and lows and show you more of yourself than you ever thought you could before I don't know if there's a game out there quite like Celeste that really Nails this theme throughout the entirety of its story there's no end to the plot devices in their deeper meaning behind mine's Journey the Thematic mirrors the literal ghosts of the past you must encounter and the mental Journey being nearly as arduous as the physical one
• 13:30 - 14:00 for meline as much as she impacts the mountain the mountain redirects that same amount of impact P to her but most of all the journey is not about overcoming feelings of fear and doubt and self-loathing it's learning to reconcile with those emotions and use them for good at the beginning of the journey meline was motivated to climb the mountain out of what seemed like sheer Spite and blind determination in the end it's about perseverance self-love and acceptance it was never about actually reaching the
• 14:00 - 14:30 summit as meline says herself it was about knowing you could do it at all in the traditional sense of comparing a mountain to the self mountains are about personal Glory Celeste breaks that Trope and flips it on its head it's about how the protagonist changes during their Journey up the mountain reconciles with the most deep-seated emotions and eventually conquers them and as the environment transforms humankind so must humankind transform
• 14:30 - 15:00 [Music] you never know how much the environment means to you until you lose it forever in the game jant a French translation for a retreating tide the land is Barren ships are scattered across a massive desert rusting in the harsh sunlight dead masses of marine organisms line the sand the only Signs of Life the nameless protagonist can see are birds that seemingly avoided
• 15:00 - 15:30 whatever catastrophe befil this world but all of this is dwarfed by the truly colossal Mountain that lies before you to call it a mountain is a disservice it's a behemoth of pure Earth that seemingly so big you can't even begin to Glimpse the summit and yet somehow you and your little blob creature on your shoulder have to climb this structure with nothing but your wits and your grip strength like Celeste jant is an
• 15:30 - 16:00 incredibly focused game because of its emphasis on type mechanics climbing is notoriously one of the most tedious parts of any game if developers don't align it with the player's goals most of the time climbing is used as a proxy to let other set pieces and level sections load while your character loafs around on the side of a cliff for a few minutes it's an obligatory part of most AAA action games and it's often the worst part of these games as well so to make a game where 95% of the gameplay is just climate is a tall task and jant excels
• 16:00 - 16:30 within these limitations mechanically every button press you make while climbing this mountain makes intuitive sense use the Triggers on your controller to act as your left and right hand and you have to be constantly pressing them to have a grip on the mountain it's very disorienting initially but once you find a rhythm you can climb pretty quickly you also have a rope attached to you which you can tack pitton on for extra Mobility on these Cliff faces allowing you to swing across massive gaps while the game is forgiving with all
• 16:30 - 17:00 these tools you can still massively overestimate how good you might be at climbing the cost of your mistakes in juon isn't the character's death and then restarting it's simply having to make up these gigantic stretches of the Mountain's face if you fall one wrong handhold and you go back to climbing the same stretch you just worked so hard to scale and you need to scale this mountain as seemingly Society depends on it the world of jant is full of quiet reminders of a society long gone one with a thriving Marine economy and
• 17:00 - 17:30 Lively hamlets in villages but without any semblance of water these settlers departed for [Music] good most of these people from what you can gather from the notes and conversation recordings you find have ascended farther up the mountain to supposed greener pastures others have vanished into the desert leaving as quickly as the water did you follow in the footsteps of these climate refugees
• 17:30 - 18:00 following their trail to the summit hoping to reawaken what's been [Music] lost jant shares a theme with other Breakthrough video game titles about waking up an ancient world Shadow of the Colossus and journey are both examples of games that force a comparatively tiny protagonist into an unknown place with massive structures nearly Millennia older than them while conquering colossal other worldly forces in the
• 18:00 - 18:30 process yet in all of the Grandeur of this ancient world it's the ant that must tamed the world of the Lions you alone can change the fate of an entire region from falling into catastrophe you must do it or else we'll all pay for it where jusant deviates from this formula is that you aren't some hero with a legendary sword or a magic Cape you're just a regular person with some climbing gear and a cute little blob on your shoulder all you're doing is being a good climber and nature is doing the rest and the villains aren't Supernatural
• 18:30 - 19:00 beasts you're battling against the same forces of the natural [Music] world nature doesn't care about you it's a highly fickle thing it can foster entire species while simultaneously squashing others out of existence Modern Biology uses this indifference as the basis for natural selection and in the case of mountains it's easy to see what animals have been selected to survive these harsh environments but this brutal indifference has also spurred
• 19:00 - 19:30 interesting discussions about morality how we treat each other and how we treat our environment in a quote from his book The Revolt of the Angels early 20th century French author anatol France says it is almost impossible systematically to constitute a natural moral law Nature has no principles she furnishes us with no reason to believe that human life is to be respected nature in her indifference makes no distinction between good and evil nature remains
• 19:30 - 20:00 apathetic to man's concerns it does not care whether you live or die but it will act by the principles of Life likewise despite the harsh climb it's unfair to say that Juan's environment is purely antagonistic there are some bright patches in this world between the bright Blues of the frescos you discover to the burning oranges of the cliff faces in the harsh sunlight there's plenty of majestic scenes to behold but with every Vista comes a drawback back the sun seemingly locked
• 20:00 - 20:30 into place will cause the protagonist to lose more energy if it's directly in its light howling winds will launch you in random directions towards the end of the game yet if use correctly these aspects can also assist the character in climbing up the mountain those same high winds can launch you to higher to an outof reach outcropping stone crab creatures pull you up sheer edges but only for small stretches glowing microorganisms allow you to levitate in some of the cave sections it's all about leveraging the environment to your use but in a respectful and caring manner
• 20:30 - 21:00 there's nothing moral about these conditions just like there is nothing moral about the jant itself I realize I've spent this entire section talking about this environmental catastrophe that's befallen this world without exactly explaining what it is and there's a reason for that obviously the water is gone but why well in chapter 3 you start to understand precisely what's going wrong as you ascend a massive Cliff face beneath the burning Sun you notice that your Shadow has not moved the sun has stopped moving in the sky
• 21:00 - 21:30 and therefore the planet you're on has seemingly stopped moving as well any semblance of atmosphere or weather is nowhere to be seen and not a drop of rain has touched this land in weeks the source of these people's wealth and livelihood has abandoned them seemingly Frozen in time and it's your job to find it again and it seemingly gone up the eag system as a whole is following these climate refugees in
• 21:30 - 22:00 contrast with a typical Mountain where the higher and higher you climb the less likely you're encountering any life form the Earth pillar of jant flips that idea on its head beginning The Climb you encounter no life forms other than those who have adapt to this harsh landscape like crabs and lyen but by the time you get to the very end you see plentiful plant life and massive Sky whales ascending to the Mountain's highest points yet you never see any other another living person during your entire Journey to the summit because that's who
• 22:00 - 22:30 you're undertaking this journey for the people who lost their livelihoods to to the dant but there's no one relationships families businesses even entire towns all were wiped out when the water left an entire civilization forced to become vertical perhaps one of the most impactful narratives that's in this game is the story of Bianca a Lighthouse Keeper who ascends the entire Mountain just like you do you get to see her sense of wonder fluctuate as she's
• 22:30 - 23:00 forced out of her home following the promise that these Sky Wheels called ballasts now hold the water that's so precious to humans while her friends attempt to hunt them down but by the end all she wants is a new place to call home and to not be forced onto the Cliff face to survive we're all victims here you the people that used to inhabit this mountain the animals and plants that used to thrive
• 23:00 - 23:30 but in an instant you're saved from this Melancholy by riding on one of these Sky Wheels all the way up to the top of the mountain there are no signs of life as you violently collide with the summit on your Frozen ride and then one of the most visually striking finales that I have seen in any game you reawaken the water that's been long [Music] lost [Music]
• 23:30 - 24:00 [Music]
• 24:00 - 24:30 dant is a game that reveals a deep-seated worry that we all have what will happen if the home we cherish is lost to a climate catastrophe what kind of displacement Journey will we have to make if that happens to us how long until we'll see salvation that Journey that struggle of man against the unpredictable and indifferent forces of nature goes hand inhand with the Journey of the protagonist inant the only thing you see is the mountain the only purpose is to climb it the mountain is unmoving UN broken unrelenting it's about how we approach
• 24:30 - 25:00 it and nurture our relationship with it that will determine our success nature is a Fickle thing but it often can bring out precisely what we need if we're sturdy enough to endure its wrath I've talked a lot about a Mountain's relationship to the central character of these games and their relationship with the greater environment of the mountain around them but people rarely climb mountains by themselves not only can mountains tell us a lot about ourselves and the world but they also can reveal our most profound relationships our most trusted
• 25:00 - 25:30 friends and how we deal with conflict I think the one objectively correct take about God of War 2018 is that it's one of the most transformative narratives in games the game took a violent angry and bitterly spiteful protagonist and molded him into someone that's capable of genuine character development in part thanks to complex Side characters and excellent writing
• 25:30 - 26:00 for anyone who hasn't played the mainline God of War games I'll try my best to give a one minute summary Kratos is a Spartan soldier that's struggling against a rival Barbarian ruler on the brink of death Kratos gives his life to the current God of War Aries he's chained to the blades of chaos which allow him to beat his rival once and for all but it comes with a catch that he's never allowed to be free of his chains ever again Aries is a cruel Master tricking Kratos into killing his own wife and daughter and cursing him for
• 26:00 - 26:30 all of eternity to wear their ashes on his skin he quickly grows tired of being a slave to a God and challenges Aries in single combat winning and taking his seat as the rightful God of War he then spends the next two games picking fights changing his Fate by force and slaughtering every single member of the Greek pantheon until there's no one left to oppose him and then he leaves Cory bar and crew went with a completely different take on the ghost
• 26:30 - 27:00 of Sparta God of War 2018 picks up an indeterminate amount of time following the first three games to an older more weathered Kratos he has a son now whose name is atraeus and they both live in the Norse pantheon he's careful subdued but not afraid to show people the God he once was his wife and atra's mother is dead and they must take her Ashes to the tallest mountain in the nine realms
• 27:00 - 27:30 a starting point with kratos's Adventure bearing similarities to mountains is the sheer spectacle and violent emotions these games are known for between massive creatures that envelop entire Realms to the rage that Kratos fights with ripping and tearing through enemies like a scythe to a weat field but most of all it's the massive and climactic boss fights that are the Hallmark of God of War while the reboot executes these moments on a bit of a smaller scale
• 27:30 - 28:00 spectacle still plays a huge role in 2018 the fights with Dragons trolls and valky demonstrate that Sony isn't playing around with the combat in this game but the crowning fight of 2018 comes in its opening act there's nothing that I wish more for than to remove my memory of playing this game for the first time and experiencing the beginning boss fight against Baler again despite quite easily handling the first few enemies in mini boss of the first chapter balder absolutely [ __ ] knocked your socks off launching you into the air like no enemy has done
• 28:00 - 28:30 before you struggle against him desperately trying to avoid his attacks while slashing at him with the Leviathan axe Kratos and Boulder prove such Unstoppable forces meeting immovable objects that they create a rift in the earth seemingly separating the very tectonic plates they're standing on and just when you think you're beaten Kratos draws in a rage from his past to even the odds reminding you that he's still that same Warrior from ages long ago you seemingly Triumph in the fight but you don't see the end of your enemy for long it's the first step in a long line
• 28:30 - 29:00 of impressive moments from this game trying to match the massive expectations of the journey up the tallest peak in the nine Realms but while the spectacle has always been a part of God of War it's not the primary vehicle for the plot like previous games 2018s focus is a gripping story about grief acceptance and family and is brilliantly represented through Kratos and atreus's journey at ODS would be an understatement to describe kratos's relationship with his
• 29:00 - 29:30 son he's a god burdened with abilities and Trauma that he is extremely reluctant to pass on to his kin so he remains Sullen and uncommunicative with the trus yet he still possesses the fatherly instincts to protect his son from danger creating an unfortunate Paradox where he wants to care for atus but not enough for him to catch on to his true nature on the opposite end of this lies at trus a boy who doesn't know his father like he wants to and feels abandoned by his dead mother for leaving him with his barely recognizable Father
• 29:30 - 30:00 Figure yet he's also filled with a childlike Whimsy so that he wants to connect with everyone the dwarfs that he meets the Giants the birds and animals around him even his fellow Gods despite the chiding of Kratos but most of all this Whimsy includes strengthening his bond with his own father this dichotomy isn't really lost on me with both God and boy representing the worst and best in each other katus is the overprotective safety net but protects boy for a good reason atraeus is is the inquisitive trusting Child full of Discovery but is also incredibly naive
• 30:00 - 30:30 causing his dad to protect him they each change so much throughout the course of the game that their individual Journeys are almost worth exploring by themselves yet I don't think either of these explanations suffice for the true purpose of the mountain Motif in God of War a mountain is a personal Journey a mountain is the representation of environmental strife and spectacle we've seen this before Cory barlog and Company were reaching for something greater shifting Earth is
• 30:30 - 31:00 a strong symbol that makes itself known in the game the first boss fight where Kratos and balder force open a Chasm just inches away from kratos's home the massive weight of the world serpent leveling the lake of nine even the ending boss fight where Freya possesses a Giant's body and levels a glacier to stop the fight between Kratos and balder again it's a reaction of the very Earth they're standing on conveying that even it is not enough to stop The Godly Powers at play in a way the Gods and
• 31:00 - 31:30 Monsters of God of War behave like the very Earth they stand upon unmoving unchanging but when they Clash it has monstrous consequences for the environment we have countless myths and legends based on these conflicts Poseidon was known to create earthquakes whenever he bashed his Trident against the ground in Furious rages and P of the Hawaiian mythology's anger led to catastrophic volcanic eruptions myths like this are based on reality in one form or another in ancient times the
• 31:30 - 32:00 movements of the earth run known and modern geography and geology only had a plausible explanation within the last 100 years all of the land and ocean mass of the Earth sits upon many different portions of the Earth's crust and those plates sit on top of an Ever shifting scalding mantle of our planet that theory is known as plate tectonics all of these plates are constantly sliding and shifting past each other as a result these movements create some of the most impressive awe and inspiring features of geology besides the strike slip faults
• 32:00 - 32:30 that cause devastating earthquakes and divergent plate boundaries where molten Earth is being spewed out of ocean basins a third interaction between these plates is often eye openening convergence two gigantic land masses approaching each other each with an Unstoppable force behind them is Godlike in nature it either forces a weaker lighter Mass to submit against the stronger heavier one creting a bitter reminder of the one who was left behind
• 32:30 - 33:00 or if it's a match between two equals it can create something on [Music] inspiring God of War is the game of dualities mother and son brother and brother light and dark high and low past and future and most importantly Father and Son yet equally as important as these relationships is the convergence of these relationships Kratos and
• 33:00 - 33:30 atraeus begin this journey painfully ignorant of each other's feelings and wants safe for Pure self-preservation this ignorance all but assures conflict will happen down the road where they will converge with each other many many many times they fight about everything from who to kill to who is right in fighting a war to what the role of godhood is and I hate to say it but Kratos is wrong in a lot of these instances not purely because of his beliefs but because of the amount of information that he is holding back about his past from atraeus and not
• 33:30 - 34:00 revealing atreus's true nature this disconnect directly manifests itself in The Narrative of the game Kratos leaves atraeus in alheim stranded for days on end atraeus violently goes after enemies that outmatch him nearly three times his size it's an inability to address conflict that permeates both of their minds these two hot-headed Gods think they can just power through everything and they will reach the peak it causes them to not even get to the right mountain in the first place but it reaches a Breaking Point kratos's
• 34:00 - 34:30 steadfast belief in the Folly of gods has now nearly cost his son's life and to fix it he must confront his own Godly past and help disconnect it from his previous actions as the God of War in Greece this specific section and speech from the ghost of Athena is especially poignant so I'm just going to let this section play out and fall there's nowhere you can hide Spartan put as much distance between you and the
• 34:30 - 35:00 truth as you want it changes nothing pretend to be everything you are not teacher husband father but there is one unavoidable truth you will never Escape you cannot change you you will always be a
• 35:00 - 35:30 monster I know but I am your monster no [Music] longer this is not to say that Kos is entirely wrong when atraeus learns of
• 35:30 - 36:00 his godhood he goes maniacal basically spitting on people of less than his station but Kratos learns to be the person that can filter out tra's negativities and can teach him how to be a better God they need to be on a Level Playing Field as each other and ultimately it's how these conflicts can be resolved but their Mountain their Journey isn't finished isn't summited until Kratos gives up something he he never intended to give up which is the full story of his past he's been hiding
• 36:00 - 36:30 it for so long that it happens at the very end of the game but it's the only way that they're able to see each other as equals and the only way for them to Summit their goal so many times along the journey they've seen failures in addressing these conflicts Magny and Modi the light and dark elves and Freya and balder these are all Continental forces just barreling towards each other ignorant to each other's emotions and needs but by being honest with each other Kratos and atraeus are able to
• 36:30 - 37:00 create the strong mountain of their relationship and complete their Journey when they get to the top of the mountain katus and atraeus find out that their entire Journey was laid out before them foretold by the Prophecies of the Giants yet what wasn't foretold by those images was the emotional circumstances that would get them there Kratos and atraeus now finally at the peak of the tallest mountain in all of the nine Realms share a true bond between Father and Son Two gigantic plates of Earth on a collision course with Destiny they've overcome the
• 37:00 - 37:30 weight of godhood the chains of their past and I've summited the most difficult mountain of them all just as Fay would have [Music] wanted
• 37:30 - 38:00 congrats you made of the outro thanks so much for watching this video this one was a bit longer thank you so much for all the support that you've been giving me over the past year um my goal this year hopefully is to make at least six of these maybe more who's to say it would be really AIG help if you uh just gave this video quick like maybe subscribe to the channel That would be
• 38:00 - 38:30 sick um appreciate it uh and once again thank you so much for watching um yeah also feel free to follow me on uh Twitter and twitch there I'm going to be streaming a lot more this year also so twitch is over there Twitter's over there thank you very much um and yeah jackalope