In a parallel universe, there exists a God of War game where the protagonist is a diminutive, bow-wielding, pointy-eared creature. According to Ken Feldman, the lead environmental artist on the first God of War title, had the original design concepts for the game's hero not fallen through, Kratos, our god-fearing hero, would have been "a little elf."
"I think it took us a year-and-a-half to come up with Kratos," said Feldman in an interview with Official PlayStation Magazine UK. "That was the most difficult thing. Everything had to be based around this character -- the story, the weapons. The first guy we came up with was a little elf character, he was hysterical. His animations looked like Disney."
OPM features a 10-page retrospective of God of War, revealing that Kratos was not only almost an elf, but also nearly "an escaped slave" and even "a blind monk carrying a baby." Fortunately, lead designer David Jaffe had a clear idea of what he wanted.
"I wanted to make a game that really spoke to my passion for action-adventure movies," explained Jaffe. "My love of Raiders Of The Lost Ark, Greek Myths -- specifically the Harryhausen stuff like Jason And The Argonauts, Clash Of The Titans -- and my love of games like Adventure on the Atari 2600, and Devil May Cry and ICO, and kind of mashing that into one thing."
I think it's safe to say we're all happy with the way Kratos turned out in the end.
[via CVG]
