Yeah, it should be interesting to see how they handle making him a little more human.
I think I probably like old-fashioned heroic characters more than you. I am not so fond of the "grey morality" type heroes that are popular lately, and I generally avoid stories with dark, troubled anti-hero types. I guess I just find it hard to relate, and the stories have a brooding, serious tone that just kind of brings me down. GoW would actually be straying from my usual tastes.
I usually prefer more likeable and relatable characters, characters on the "light" end of the spectrum. I even like the more traditional hero types -- protagonists who are sort of idealized versions of people we might be on our best days. Not too goody-goody, but characters who have a lot of basic goodness to them. Frodo and Sam from LotR, for instance, although they're a bit on the innocent side.
But there has to be a struggle somehow, some emotional wrenching, some physical and psychological pain they're dealing with, a pushing past fear, uncertainty, loss, something. I don't need them to have a tragic flaw, but I do want them to struggle and grow. I liked the way you put it -- "(not) someone who has all the answers." I don't like characters who are just badass, got it all together, never break a sweat, stoic, have all the answers. I find that dull. That's how I perceived Kratos before. I'm glad they're opening him up.
It's interesting because a character can still be a bad ass and fit the description. It's why I like redemption stories. You deal with someone who has immense experience- so much so that the innocence and belief in good and honor are gone. Then comes this thing that intrudes on their closed off cynical world, and they start to find that spark again.
Now they have to leverage the power they gained through that cynicism, experience, and mistrust with doing the harder thing. They make themselves vulnerable and gain sometjing greater, but have to deal with what that vulnerability entails. That giving up of oneself. It's so noble, even in a fallen personage.
I love it. That noble growth. The attainment of honor and abolishment of selfishness.
I never thought I'd say this about Kratos. It's a bit of a triumph, really.