{"id":1096,"date":"2023-04-20T09:00:02","date_gmt":"2023-04-20T09:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalgoodplay.com\/?p=1096"},"modified":"2023-06-23T09:40:25","modified_gmt":"2023-06-23T09:40:25","slug":"shaping-god-of-war-2018s-climactic-boss-encounter-with-baldur","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalgoodplay.com\/?p=1096","title":{"rendered":"Shaping God of War (2018)\u2019s climactic boss encounter with Baldur"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It has been five incredible years since God of War (2018) came out and more since our team at Santa Monica Studio was deep in development on the game. Since then, we\u2019ve released the game\u2019s NG+ mode, next-gen updates, a PC port, and a sequel you might have heard of called God of War Ragnar\u00f6k. None of this would have been possible without the enduring and enthusiastic support you\u2019ve shown us over the years.<\/p>\n

To mark the five-year anniversary of God of War (2018), our team wanted to celebrate the occasion with you by taking a deep dive behind the scenes into the creation of the climactic boss fight against Baldur.<\/p>\n

Big-time spoilers for God of War (2018) ahead!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Strange(r) Beginnings<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Stranger, later revealed to be Baldur, is the first character you meet after being introduced to Kratos and Atreus. He comes calling with an agenda that immediately puts him at odds with Kratos, where his combat ability and persistence immediately mark him as the most dangerous threat dogging our heroes\u2019 heels throughout their journey.<\/p>\n

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Baldur confronts Kratos at his home in Midgard.<\/em><\/p>\n

While Kratos and Atreus don\u2019t want to engage with him, Baldur forces them to fight for their lives on several occasions throughout the realms. He is the final boss of the main story, the culmination of the Aesir plot and last test the players must overcome before finally scattering Faye\u2019s ashes from the highest peak in all the realms.<\/p>\n

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Concept art of Baldur \u2013 Artist: Jose Cabrera.<\/em><\/p>\n

The conflict comes to a head when Baldur turns his rage towards his mother Freya, as well as Kratos and Atreus, forcing them into the fight of their lives against one of the All-Father\u2019s strongest followers. Bruno Velazquez, Animation Director at Santa Monica Studio, emphasized the goal of the sequence:<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew that the players would expect a big epic finale, so our goal was always to try and push what we had done on the initial Baldur fight and up the stakes in every way.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Start to finish, this sequence is one of the most ambitious in the game and combined the efforts of our entire team to pull it off. From extensive cinematics with dramatic confrontations between the characters to a massive boss fight that spanned multiple phases and locations \u2013 this climactic finish to the plot\u2019s main conflict was one of the most important moments in the game we had to get right to make sure our players reached J\u00f6tunheim with a sense of well-earned satisfaction.<\/p>\n

Putting pen to paper<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The pressure to make this sequence feel epic and earned after teasing it from the start of the game was high. When it came to laying the groundwork, the first step was writing the story.<\/p>\n

Matt Sophos, Narrative Director at Santa Monica Studio, spoke on what the team wanted to achieve:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe narrative objective was twofold. First, we wanted to convey from both a story and gameplay perspective just how far Kratos and Atreus had come in their relationship. We wanted to show they were working together seamlessly, protecting each other, and fighting as a unit.<\/p>\n

The second goal was to put Kratos and Atreus on a collision course with no cut-and-dried \u2018good\u2019 outcome. There was going to be a cost to this fight, and the one they chose was one that turned Freya from an ally to an enemy.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Script page from cinematic leading into the final confrontation with Baldur.<\/em><\/p>\n

Despite Kratos demonstrating his growth by trying to resolve the situation without fighting, Baldur is unrelenting in his pursuit of Freya\u2019s life. This puts him and Kratos in direct conflict once again, sparking the final showdown between the two.<\/p>\n

Giant sense of scale<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The fight between Baldur, Kratos, and Atreus shows no signs of stopping despite Freya\u2019s use of Vanir magic to separate them. She turns towards more drastic measures by possessing the corpse of Thamur, the Stone Mason.<\/p>\n

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Visual exploration of Thamur \u2013 Artists: Dela Longfish & Yefim Kligerman.<\/em><\/p>\n

During certain parts of the game, this figure has been visible to the player in Midgard \u2013 extremely large and perhaps intimidating in his size, but ultimately harmless. The Stone Mason\u2019s presence is meant to evoke a sense of wonder or curiosity in the player, and maybe even a \u2018what if\u2019 moment imagining the fight between Thamur and Thor as Mimir describes the very encounter that killed the Giant in one of his stories.<\/p>\n

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Concept art of Thamur scale reference \u2013 Artist: Jose Cabrera.<\/em><\/p>\n

The integration of the colossal frozen body in the fight as both a mechanic and a platform across three phases was exactly the type of wild idea that made it worthy of being in the final fight of the story.<\/p>\n

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Concept art exploring the look of Freya\u2019s magic possessing Thamur.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sophos emphasized that when it comes to creating these huge set-piece gameplay moments, they aren\u2019t typically scripted by the Narrative Team from the beginning. In this case, it was Design Team that came up with the idea of using the Stone Mason as part of the fight:<\/p>\n

\u201cAny time we approach boss fights from the narrative side, we\u2019re reticent to write huge checks that other departments have to cash. Whenever you put something down on the page as a writer, you know lots of other team members will have to execute on it, so we try to keep the core narrative small and personal while letting Design tell us how big they want to go.<\/p>\n

Freya puppeteering the corpse of Thamur didn\u2019t come from us, but when Design said they wanted to do it and have the fight range all over the place (including on top of him), we giddily said, \u2018Hell yeah\u2026 we\u2019ll make that work.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Script page from the cinematic where Thamur is possessed by Freya\u2019s magic.<\/em><\/p>\n

Larger-than-life boss fights are a hallmark of the God of War series, so the team was no stranger to going big and reaching for something they felt would blow players away. However, one new element introduced in God of War (2018) had a profound impact on how those moments were captured \u2013 the camera.<\/p>\n

The closer placement to Kratos and no-cut technique used throughout the game were essential in achieving the feeling of undergoing an intimate journey with father and son. Whether in cutscenes or combat, you are always close to Kratos, seeing and experiencing what he does.<\/p>\n

Erol Oksuz, Lead Camera Designer at Santa Monica Studio, discussed how this approach impacted the reveal of the Giant:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe credit to selling the scale of Thamur goes to Cinematics, Animation, Art, and Lighting \u2014truly a team effort. In the prior Greek-era games, scale was shown by flying the camera waaaaay<\/em> out, dwarfing Kratos and the player against creatures and the environment.<\/p>\n

However, God of War (2018)\u2019s goal of putting the player and camera on the ground for Kratos and Atreus\u2019 journey created many rules to provide the documentary-inspired experience. Along with \u2018no cuts\u2019 was \u2018no flying cameras\u2019 \u2014 this meant the camera could not simply fly away on its own for extreme long shots. Instead, what replaced it was beautifully crafted choreography that added scale to the experience \u2014 the work of those teams still \u2018wow\u2019 me.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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