- vor 1 Tag
Im Interview sprechen der Head of Creative Cory Barlog und Game Director Ariel Lawrence über das neue Spiel von Sony Santa Monica – God of War Laufey . Während des rund 25 minütigen Gesprächs sprechen die beiden über den neuen Hauptcharakter Faye, das Afterlife of the Gods und neue Gameplay-Mechaniken.
Kategorie
🎮️
VideospieleTranskript
00:13KORI BARLOCK
00:30KORI BARLOCK
01:00KORI BARLOCK
01:00What's up, what's down.
01:01That is a great hear.
01:05When did you start working at Santa Monica?
01:08I started working at Santa Monica in August of 2003 and I was right out of film school.
01:15I got hired to cut trailers and videos and I cut the TGS trailer for the first God of War
01:23and then I wanted to do more than hemisphere tables.
01:27So I asked if there was anything else I could do around here and I ended up working in production
01:31and I worked on God of War 1, 2, 3, Ascension and I was two years on 2018 before I
01:40took my little walkabout in the world and then I couldn't get enough of this place.
01:46I came back, came back home.
01:48That's quite an amazing journey.
01:50You have deep, deep, deep roots with the God of War world.
01:53Cutting the trailer for TGS, that was like the first sort of thing that I worked on, I think, when
01:59I got here as well.
02:00That was back in the day when Kratos had Blue Tattoo.
02:04We're still calling him Dominus.
02:06It's still calling him Dominus.
02:08Yeah, and the team was only like 30, 35 people maybe?
02:12Small compared to now.
02:14It's weird to think about making games with that small of a group of people.
02:19When we were like 65 people, that's so much, and then we got to 100, that's so much.
02:25Yeah.
02:25Oh, what are the most memorable aspects of working on God of War, the whole franchise?
02:31The whole franchise?
02:31I mean, I think each game definitely, I think, left its mark or scars, Battle Scars.
02:37But, you know, it's like the studios, just the commitment to quality, and the late nights with each other trying
02:45to figure out some problem or make some magic happen in the middle of the night, or coming back in
02:51and somebody took a smoke break and, I don't know, maybe changed the boss of God of War 2.
02:54I think that might have been you.
02:56I feel like that's a dig at me.
02:57I feel like I'm going to own that one because that's entirely true.
03:00But, yeah, no, I mean, every game was like a new set of challenges, like how do you make Titans?
03:05How do you make the trailer for the Titans come through?
03:08Oh, yes.
03:09How do you make multiplayer?
03:10How do you reinvent Kratos?
03:12Where does he go?
03:13Like, so, it's always an exciting story.
03:17Why did you want to come back to the studio?
03:19What made you decide, this is where I need to be?
03:23The short and probably semi-uncomfortable answer for this interview is I came back for you.
03:29Definitely that bar of excellence has been in my head for a long time.
03:34Your creative voice has weighed down on some projects of mine, and I don't know, I just missed the team's
03:41commitment, just the people here.
03:44I came back for the people.
03:46I came back for the people?
03:47I came back for the people.
03:48I like that.
03:48That's better than coming back for me because the voices in my head are not ones to follow.
03:51That's your voice in my head, not your voices in my head.
03:55That's true.
03:56If you had my voices in your head, that's not even, that's a whole other series of videos, I imagine.
04:03So, when you found out, coming here, that you were going to work on a Fae game, what was your
04:09thoughts?
04:10I was excited.
04:11I was a little shocked, surprised, I think, that we were going to do something different.
04:16I think when I was coming back and talking to folks, I had just assumed it would be another Kratos
04:22game, and that's who I would be telling stories about for the rest of my life.
04:26And I was okay with that.
04:27But I think finding out about Fae and just, you know, seeing somebody whose journey that we could really explore
04:36and turn new pages on was exciting.
04:39You know, looking at the world in a different lens was exciting.
04:43So, it was, you know, just saying yes to that opportunity, I think, was really cool.
04:48That's a good outlook.
04:48Just say yes to that opportunity.
04:51That's what has gotten me into a lot of trouble over the years.
04:54That's true.
04:56Present position included.
04:58Yeah, I always try to talk people out of directing these days.
05:00You did try to talk me out of doing this.
05:02But I try to be upfront and straightforward about it, just so that people don't feel like, you tricked me.
05:06No, you were very honest about the work that it entailed for doing this.
05:11Yes.
05:11Yes.
05:12And, you know, it's exciting.
05:13Fae, while it's a different thing, it's still part of the larger tapestry of what we're doing.
05:17We really want to explore all these different characters in there, but there's always going to be Kratos games.
05:22Oh, for sure.
05:22Yeah, we can't not tell stories about the big guy.
05:27Let's go into directing.
05:28What are you most excited about in stepping into the role as a game director?
05:35There's like a fine line between excitement and being terrified.
05:39I think I'm on the edge of excitement most of the time.
05:43But I think being able to be curious about everything on the game.
05:48Previously, I had done a lot of work in story and cinematics and in different pipelines for the game.
05:54But this really got me able to be nosy and ask questions and really get people to look at things
06:01differently from a lot of different perspectives.
06:04And to just, you know, have an opportunity to kind of like find myself in Fae's story was exciting.
06:13But yeah, then I think just, you know, captaining this ship with all of these humans making this game together
06:19is a lot, but it's very exciting.
06:23I want to go back to something you said, finding yourself.
06:27Talk about what part of you you're putting into the game.
06:29I mean, I think, you know, we've always come at stories from Santa Monica with, you know, characters at their
06:37heart, right?
06:37And finding ourselves, you know, even in Kratos, you know, everybody's had a point in their time when they've made
06:44some decisions that maybe they wish they hadn't and really thought things through again.
06:48But I think for Fae, that was the question of, you know, who is she, you know, who was this
06:53person that everybody idolized and, you know, just stood in awe of and, and to really think about all the
07:00facets that make up that person, right?
07:03She's, you know, a loving wife and mother, but she's also a warrior.
07:08She's a guardian of her people.
07:10She's a rebellion leader.
07:12She's all of these things.
07:13And to, to be able to have an opportunity to just explore that person with the detail and the love
07:21that Santa Monica brings is just, you know, very touching, very exciting.
07:26What's the hardest part for you stepping into the role as a director?
07:31If there, is there any sort of individual parts where it's like that you feel great about overcoming?
07:36I think that's probably the more specific question is there's hard parts, but we always sort of push through and
07:40we get to that other side.
07:41What's any hard parts that you can think of that?
07:44I mean, I think the hard parts are, there are definitely some places where I feel, you know, comfortable, you
07:49know, like I, you know, story is a comforting place for me.
07:52But there are some places that are new in a way that having to be familiar with that depth, you
07:58know, there's engineering things and design issues and all sorts of things.
08:03And everybody has a question and they all need their answers immediately and trying to kind of keep the potluck
08:10that we have going and becoming still digestible at the end of the meal.
08:13Like that's been very difficult sometimes of just trying to get everything they need to be as creative as possible
08:19and then keep a handle on making sure that it still tells a singular story of Faye.
08:27I think that's, that's been, it's been a learning and growing experience as time has gone on.
08:33And there's always voices from the top and there's always voices from the bottom.
08:37Everybody has an opinion, which is one of the things I love about Santa Monica.
08:40And it's trying to figure out how to temper those to make sure that we're being truthful to who Faye
08:45is and what her journey is on that.
08:48So you kind of dove into aspects of design and engineering and got more educated on that.
08:54Yeah.
08:55I think that's, that's the fun part.
08:58I mean, that's the wonderful part about making games is that it's not just one person.
09:02It's hundreds of people now to make it together.
09:05And, you know, that's, there are places and things that I, every day is different.
09:11You know, every day is, you know, 80 different meetings about different topics and, you know, play testers and build
09:19times and, you know, design questions and art questions and, you know, working with actors.
09:27And it's, it's exciting.
09:29So I don't know.
09:30It keeps me busy.
09:31Never a dull moment.
09:33Exciting, overwhelming, but fantastic.
09:35And you are doing an amazing job at it.
09:38I appreciate it.
09:39Falling into the crazy fray quite, quite well.
09:43So for the folks at home who haven't seen the, the announce that we've done, why don't you do a
09:50little recap?
09:51Tell us what that's all about.
09:52Well, the game reveal that we just showed, hopefully everybody's gotten a chance to see it.
09:57If not, maybe they'll take a chance right now, but we start with Faye's dead.
10:02We wanted to start exactly.
10:04Sorry.
10:04We wanted to start exactly where the players were, which is, you know, in God of War 2018, you know,
10:11her death was the impetus for Kratos and Atreus' journey together and their growth together and going on to Ragnarok.
10:18We debated whether or not to tell a story before that.
10:22And what we really wanted to do was just pick up exactly where the player was, which is Faye's dead.
10:28And she finds herself in the afterlife of the gods.
10:31And there she discovers some things that make her question whether or not Kratos and Atreus are safe.
10:39And she's determined to find a way back to help them.
10:43What do you want the audience to feel?
10:47I'd like the audience to watch the game reveal and be like, this is amazing.
10:52I can't wait to play this.
10:53I can't wait to be in Faye's boots kicking ass.
10:58That's what I want the players to feel.
11:00I want them to be curious about the world and the opportunity that it has in magic and the gods
11:05that we're going to meet with all these mythologies coming together in the afterlife.
11:10You know, I want them to be excited and swept away by the world and Faye's story and where she's
11:15going to go.
11:16But this is gameplay.
11:18Yes.
11:18And this reveal.
11:19And this is showing that this is not a prequel.
11:21This is a continuation of the timeline right at the beginning of God of War 2018.
11:26What happened to Faye after that funeral?
11:30Exactly.
11:31And we were really intent on it being gameplay.
11:34We, you know, as a, we wanted the first taste for players to really center on what it's like to
11:41play this game and who this person is and really show you what you're going to get when you pick
11:47the controllers up.
11:48Speaking of who this person is, Faye, what is the most interesting aspect of her?
11:55Why is Faye such a compelling character?
11:57I know why.
11:58I have my own answer.
12:00But I'd love to hear your answer on why she's so compelling.
12:02I find great connection with Faye's curiosity about the world, you know, her loyalty to her friends and family.
12:11You know, just the fact that she goes into situations that she's kind of unprepared for and kicks ass anyway.
12:17And I think that, you know, she's a little bit more improvisational than maybe Kratos might be.
12:23And she's not afraid to kind of be honest and show her kind of true self and emotions on things.
12:32And I think, you know, for Kratos, we love him dearly.
12:36But I think sometimes he's a little closed off and he's learning to open up a little bit more.
12:40So I think with Faye...
12:41He's working on it.
12:41He's a work in progress.
12:42Yeah, he's working on it.
12:42But I think with Faye, we got to be let in a little bit more.
12:48Where is this all taking place?
12:50Like, we're talking about that Faye, she died.
12:53She died at the beginning of 2018.
12:56And now we're kind of moving into this game and going on the journey.
13:01Where is this?
13:02So Faye finds herself in the afterlife of the gods.
13:07So this is the birthplace and the ending point to which all magic returns.
13:12All magic.
13:13And so the amazing thing about that is twofold, right?
13:16We get all sorts of magic, a highly heightened magical world to play in.
13:21But we also get the return and the discovery of a lot of different mythologies coming together
13:27and what happens when those mythologies kind of meet up.
13:31And being able to kind of encompass and throw our arms around different mythologies
13:38has been very exciting.
13:40Just getting to know different people and different people's stories.
13:43So the afterlife of the gods is kind of this transcendent place above
13:48kind of the mortal world and the afterlife of humans.
13:52And then the sort of underworld of humans, it exists sort of above all of that.
13:57Yeah, I mean, I think in Ragnarok, Odin really was kind of taken by that question.
14:02You know, what happens to us when we die?
14:04We know what happens to the mortals when they die.
14:06But what happens to us?
14:07And so this is an answer for that question.
14:10What happens to gods when they die?
14:11And, you know, it also, it's not, things aren't working quite exactly the way that they should be
14:18in this afterlife of the gods.
14:20And magic isn't flowing exactly the way that it should be.
14:25So this afterlife's not exactly a paradise.
14:28It's a little bit more of a prison.
14:30It's got a little bit cattywampus.
14:32A little bit.
14:32And the folks who are in charge there, who you'll meet in the reveal video, Sekhmet and Baxi,
14:42they've taken over things.
14:43And as two respective gods of war, they have a certain way of doing things.
14:47It's a little bit more violent.
14:49So this place is, you know, it's beautiful, it's magical, but it's very dangerous.
14:54From a gameplay perspective, how is this a god of war game?
14:58What makes it sort of fit in the pantheon of god of war gameplay?
15:02Well, we don't shy away from violence, that's for sure.
15:05So definitely true to our kind of brutal roots.
15:08But I think more than that, you know, we're focused on Faye and telling her story and just
15:13really exploring the world through her eyes.
15:17You know, that journey of her character and how she comes across this world.
15:22So I think that at the heart of it really just makes us a god of war game and a
15:26Santa
15:26Monica game.
15:27But, you know, Faye affords us a few more opportunities than maybe Kratos might.
15:32Faye is a little bit more agile in the world than Kratos is.
15:35And she has a healthier relationship, I think, than with magic.
15:39She isn't quite the past that Kratos has.
15:41She's more of the embracer of magic, whereas Kratos is the skeptical user of magic.
15:46So definitely being in a world so filled with magic, you know, we can really lean into that
15:52with Faye.
15:53And, you know, we want to stay true to the hallmarks of a god of war game.
15:57You know, just that close, you know, combat, that agility, the exploration of our world,
16:06you know, story at our heart.
16:07Kind of pick up and play, that sort of brutal, kind of intimate gameplay that would have been
16:15sort of refined through each of the iterations, taking it one step further and taking it one
16:20step further.
16:20What are some things that are kind of added to make it unique?
16:23Well, I think one of the first things that excited the team was that we brought jump
16:26back into the game.
16:27Kratos hasn't jumped for a little while.
16:29Well, so I think that we looked through all of our god of war games from the Greek era,
16:35the Norse era, and really, we got to kind of pick up each element and think about, does
16:41this help us tell Laofei's story?
16:43You know, she is always thinking on her feet and, you know, throwing herself into like kind
16:48of the next battle and really trying to like work her way through the world.
16:53And so leaning into that, we were able to borrow some of those elements from the Greek
16:57era, just, you know, the movement, the fluidity in there, but then also couple that with the
17:04Norse era, you know, like the way that we approach the world, you know, our close ties
17:09with character, you know, Fae's relationship with her companions, like all of these things
17:14kind of led us to this new version that is uniquely Fae.
17:19God of War, Laofei.
17:21Laofei is played by the amazing and absolutely wonderful Debra Ann Wall.
17:28Stunningly talented.
17:29Stunningly talented.
17:30He worded it so much better than I did.
17:32Talk to me about working with her.
17:34She's amazing.
17:35Hands down.
17:36Just, she just comes to the set with so much energy.
17:39And it's amazing to just be in this imagination world with her.
17:44And she is Fae and Fae is her.
17:49She's also like amazing in the VO booth.
17:52Just one of like the best actors I've worked with in the booth and just brings everything
17:58to it.
17:59Yeah.
17:59Leaves no stone unturned.
18:01Consummate professional.
18:02Consummate professional.
18:03She's just a lot of fun to be with too.
18:05She is a joy.
18:06Anyway, and what about the illustrious Jack Quaid?
18:11Everybody in Laofei is fantastic.
18:13Jack is very excited, which is amazing.
18:17And Perlina, our Rue character, is also amazing.
18:23Who's your favorite?
18:24I can't pick favorites.
18:25We're putting it on you.
18:26You got to pick a favorite.
18:27I'm sorry.
18:27I can't pick favorites on camera.
18:28Look, there's three cameras here.
18:28They'll come for me.
18:29You have to pick a favorite.
18:29I still have to finish this game.
18:31I can't pick favorites.
18:31Yeah, yeah.
18:32We won't show it until after we finish the game.
18:35I've heard that one before.
18:35Yeah, but you got to pick a favorite.
18:36If you had to pick a favorite, I've gotten to your head.
18:38Or you're my favorite.
18:39That's the correct answer.
18:41Thank you.
18:41You've been watching Dev Talk, and I am her favorite.
18:44That's right.
18:45Yeah, I don't know who I would pick.
18:46I don't know.
18:46And I've only met each one of them on a Zoom call.
18:50I was able to participate in the mocap thing via Skype.
18:55And they work so well together, like, just good energy.
18:59It really is a delight.
19:00They all are.
19:01Yeah.
19:02Really, we, like, you did us a solid, however many years ago, getting Deborah as Faye.
19:08But she is wonderful.
19:09I am a huge, huge, huge fan of all of the work that she does.
19:13And the work that she's done in this is second to none.
19:18Just truly amazing.
19:20But you've been asking a lot of questions, Corey.
19:22Why did you want to make a Faye game?
19:24Because when I came back to the studio, the Faye game was already in process.
19:29So what about Faye did you want to do?
19:32Like, what about Faye was interesting for you in terms of telling her story?
19:37I think Faye is one of my, she's in my top three favorite characters, right, of the entire franchise.
19:46And she is just such an interesting character with how much she was an orchestrator of Kratos and Trey's journey.
19:57For me, a warrior has sort of touched such interesting parts of the past history of God of War, moving
20:05to a Faye game and kind of seeing it move forward, rather than saying, like, hey, let's do a Faye
20:09game, which we did explore.
20:11At the beginning, we were like, let's do the time before so we can really see all these cool moments,
20:15like when she was making the axe with Brock and Sindri and all the drama that happened with that.
20:21But ultimately, the most interesting part was really to tackle, like, hey, what happened when she died?
20:27And what continued on and started to create this new layer that exists above?
20:34And throughout Ragnarok, Odin was talking about, you know, what you had mentioned before.
20:39What happens to us when we die?
20:41The other gods, I think, secretly think that a little bit, but his OCD, like, really took over and he
20:48was hyper-fixated and focused, and rightfully so, because there is this sort of transcended place beyond for the gods
20:55that is very interesting for us to start exploring and seeing how all these mythologies mash together.
21:00And then that sort of guide being Faye and seeing that difference of, like, look, Faye was a warrior of
21:08equal sort of excellence, but also damage, right?
21:15When her and Kratos met, they were girls pretty messed up.
21:18Yeah, she did not have a good exit from her people.
21:23Things went south.
21:24Yeah.
21:25It's so funny that you say that she's a planner, because I feel like we have taken somebody who has
21:31spent their whole life trying to orchestrate things into a perfect space, and then we've put them in some place
21:38where they have to think on their feet all the time.
21:40Yeah.
21:40And I think that is...
21:43Starting to sound a little bit like you?
21:44Maybe.
21:45A planner who is put into a place where she has to now improvise quite a lot.
21:51There's a lot of you inside of this game.
21:53Yes.
21:54And for me, it's really exciting, because, again, the franchise, Kratos is sort of the tree.
21:58It's the trunk of our tree.
21:59And he sort of drives the franchise forward, and we want to follow him, but there are so many interesting
22:03characters that we created along the way.
22:05And for me, Faye and, you know, Sindri are, to me, the two most interesting characters.
22:12And I love all the other characters, so all the other characters are amazing, and it's not that I don't
22:16love them.
22:16It's just that they have very interesting, un-examined lives that I really want to go deeper into.
22:26I think also, like, we're starting to build a world where we can tell stories about different people and tell
22:31different kinds of stories.
22:32You know, Kratos gives us his story.
22:35And it's been changing and evolving, and that's fantastic, and, you know, I can't wait to see where it goes.
22:40Yeah.
22:41But it also is nice to be able to tell different stories along the way.
22:45Yep.
22:46And to see, where do these stories go?
22:48And introducing this sort of extra layer, the afterlife of the gods, that actually connects to all of these other
22:55things.
22:56This was a wonderful conversation.
22:58Thanks for having me.
22:58Thank you for taking the time.
23:00So I want to encourage everybody out there to go take a look at the God of War, Laufei, announce
23:06that was just released.
23:07If you haven't seen it already, if you've seen it, watch it again.
23:11Because it's even more awesome the second time.
23:14We're going to continue this conversation together, as well as with all of you out there, in the coming months.
23:22As we get then closer to our release date, we'll even give you more information then.
23:27Until then, we are going to get back to work, because there is a lot of stuff to do.
23:32So thank you, everyone, for watching.
23:35Thank you, Ariel Lawrence, for saying yes to direct this game.
23:41And thank you to all of the fans of God of War that allow us to continue to have jobs.
23:49Yes, thank you.
23:50Thank you for your support.
24:03PlayStation.
24:04PlayStation.
24:07PlayStation.
24:08PlayStation.
Kommentare