Ninja Theory: Devil May Cry Skeptics "Secretly Want to Like It"

[VGC USpartan VS]

This will be my final reply to this thread... I cant take it anymore.

Look, I want whats best for the Devil May Cry series. I am willing to except change. But every little new thing I hear about this game discourages me more and more. From Tameem obviously being a pompus asshole to screenshots like the ones above that seem to promote a moral choice system (OH GOD IF IT HAS ONE), this game just seems to be murdering the series for me. Let me put it this in a way for all of you PC gamers out there. Imagine if Team Fortress 2 got an update where every character suddenly lost all of their charm and basically just became generic, teen loved assholes. That's how I feel. I want this game to be good, but it seems that is not possible. Unless I hear some good news, this game no longer exists to me.

 

[Booze Zombie]

Nah, I hated the other ones, too. Don't think I'm making an exception!

 

[Jumplion]

Wait...when was Dante a director of something? Who are the fans you're referring to? This

Wait a second, were you talking about the guy at Ninja Theory or Dante? Derp, read it as an attack on Tameem (creative director or whatever of NT).

And here I always thought demos were meant to give an accurate idea of the game; thanks for setting me straight. It's funny that you're trying to belittle my criticisms based on the fact that I hate the most common mechanics in the game, especially since no good things have been said about Enslaved game-play. I admit, these games have a reputation for good story, so I'm sure I'd appreciate their efforts more if they made movies.

Demos are serviceable to get the general gist, but the way I had initially read it it came off as another broad, knee-jerk assumption so many other DMC "fans" are making of the company itself.

But really, there's no excusing Enslaved's controls by any means; it feels like a Monkey is trying hide the fact that several of his bones have been broken by a very ungentle giant slamming him against every climbing stub in sight.

Eh, they're serviceable for what they are. Maybe NT is tightening up their combat mechanics for the new DMC, or it'll be the same standard fare of combat. Good, bad, depends on the game.

And really, how can anyone say that them looking alike is more than a conveniently-timed coincidence? Dante has more or less looked like that since the first game way back in 2001, with subtle differences here and there to show that he aged (or hasn't yet).

I dunno man, if you read ColdStorage's post on the director and the new Dante (top of page 4, I believe) s/he points out many more differences between those two than you did of these two. The only real argument that people can say is that they have similar hairstyles, that's about it.

 

[Mysnomer]

I think that while knee-jerk reactions to DmC have been bad, the counter movement to dismiss all criticism as knee-jerk reactions is just as bad. There are too few people taking the middle ground. For everyone who thinks the critics are over-reacting: A company entirely unrelated to the original is making this game (and we have only their word that they are "working closely" with Capcom), the main character looks completely different (excepting a red article of clothing and a tendency to dual wield large guns), the developers have only ever made three games (which have never received better than mixed reviews), Ninja Theory are acting spectacularly arrogant about this matter, and to top it off, Capcom have been making a string of bad decisions lately, so it's not like we can put our faith in them.

So if you really examine the evidence, we are right to be concerned, and we have legitimate complaints. The way this is going, it won't even matter if this is a good game, because it won't be a Devil May Cry game, which is kinda' the whole point of putting that in your title. So, to review: Spotty track record (for both developer and publisher), cash-in tactics (putting out a game in a franchise with tenuous connections and trying to label it a "reboot"), and arrogant rebuttal of fan concerns. These are the key points that must be overcome before I will put any trust in Ninja Theory or their game.

 

[Grampy_bone]

The whole concept behind Dante is that he is a stylish, supernatural badass with a "devil may care" attitude (get it?) He's nihilistic, doesn't fight 'for great justice,' doesn't care about the problems of the world, he's selfish, obnoxious, snarky, smartass, etc. He approaches his endeavors for money or as a lark.

His development in each game and in the series is watching him grow and learn to care about others, even if only a little bit or for a little while. Yes this was cheesy and lame in the first game, but much better handled in the third. By the fourth game we are playing Nero who is the more typical selfless, determined hero, but again Dante experiences this type of character arc in Nero's perception of him. At first we witness Dante murder a helpless old man and he seems like a heartless villain, but over the course of the story we learn that our perceptions and Nero's are incorrect and Dante is trying to do a good thing once more.

Now, I'm not saying Ninja Theory's new Dante won't necessarily be good, or that any or all changes to the character are bad, but from what I've seen in the trailers and reading about the game's story, it seems they've discarded Dante's devil may care attitude in favor of generic Bloodthirsty Rage/Angst Thirsting For Revenge.

I.E. they are trying to copy Kratos. And that worked sooooooo well for Prince of Persia. -_-

 

[airrazor7]

Judging by its past efforts -Enslaved and Heavenly Sword- Ninja Theory is spilling over with writing talent

Ha ha ha, he made a funny...oh wait you're being serious.

Well, you have a point. The stories of Heavenly Sword and Enslaved weren't bad, yet they didn't stand out that much either. What's interesting is that those games (I could be wrong, my opinion definitely isn't the law of the land) are mainly considered great among journalists and developers seeing as they didn't do too well among consumers. However the same could be said of titles such as Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, Okami and the majority of the Dreamcast library.

Maybe what I'm getting at is, are all of those games really diamonds in the rough, or is it that maybe, just maybe, the devs at Ninja Theory are not that great at defining what is currently "cool" among the trends of gamers/consumers?

 

[airrazor7]

Hold on, isn't this the game where the art designer made the main character look like himself? Hmm, let's see what's going on here...

Spoiler

Oh son of a...

You want to hear something that'll piss you off more? They spent an entire year on that design.

 

[DigitalSushi]

I google imaged Tameems face and it's the kind of face that I want to hit with a shovel.

OT: I will boycott this game, the thought of giving money to that smug bastard ensures it. I truly hope these guys get no profit. It's incredibly hard to piss me off (Hell I didn't even shout at the shitty AI in resident evil 5's single player mode, I just turned the game off and said it wasn't for me.)

ColdStorage above made a good argument as to how they don't really look that similar except for the hair.

I'm shocked I've made a good argument!

I do believe the hate is misplaced, if your going to hate on DmC (no I'm not calling it new DmC, its DmC from now on) then hate on whats truly important, something that the gaming community so far has missed... have you noticed how DmC Dante just teleports in front of enemies and shanks them?, yeah thats right, its quite clear that Dante's using the Commando Perk!

LETS HATE HIM FOR THAT INSTEAD!, fucking noob.

 

[DigitalSushi]

Hold on, isn't this the game where the art designer made the main character look like himself? Hmm, let's see what's going on here...

Spoiler

Oh son of a...

You want to hear something that'll piss you off more? They spent an entire year on that design.

An entire year?, and it shows, it looks really professional actually, I wish I could create characters like that.

 

[Cain_Zeros]

Dante always kind of looked like a transsexual to me and since, as far as I know, being a cross dresser was never part of his character history, I can't really see where the problem is with this new interpretation of the character. It's a reboot right? Doesn't that imply changes to certain themes and tones? It's not like they're changing the character mid-series. The original Dante's story was finished. This is a completely new story.

But then again I've never really been interested in the Devil May Cry series to begin with so maybe that's why I'm not really up in arms about it. I suppose if Valve made Gordan Freeman look like Stevie Nicks I'd probably be a little upset too.

It's a prequel. Which is probably part of what at least some of the fans are upset about. This Dante is supposed to grow up to become Dante from the other games.

 

[dantoddd]

If dante gets converted into a twitching doped up sociopathic punk like everyone in trainspotting. He will be one of the best video game characters ever. even if he falls short it will still be a massive improvement, especially considering how shallow the original dante was.

These guys should serious use a 70 punk soound track for this as well

 

[Asuka Soryu]

Damnit! He's right! I'm gone to go out and buy Devil May Cry 4.


Pfft, yeah, 'cause I'd secretly care for your new character design.

When I play a game with Dante in it, I want Dante. The one I came to expect. If I bought a Garfield book, I'd be annoyed if he was pink with a poka-dot, smoking a cigarette, even if it was still a 'comedy' style comic.


It may be shallow, but I want Dante. silver-haired bad ass, Dante!

 

[Smooth Operator]

Ofcourse they want to like it, i.e. they want you to make another good game, what kind of stupid comment is that.

And if you simply replaced the anorexic emo crack whore with an anime character you would remove 70% of the hate... I really don't understand why you are pissing in the fan pond there.

 

[thenoblitt]

no shit of course we want to like it, of course we want one of our beloved games to be good but they shit all over the story and made the gameplay slower

 

[Dogstile]

Hold on, isn't this the game where the art designer made the main character look like himself? Hmm, let's see what's going on here...

Spoiler

Oh son of a...

People keep saying this, but if you'd read the rest of the thread you'd realise that you've been *ahem* ninja'd on that one

I disagree anyway. Its the hair that is alike, every facial feature he has looks different. Christ DMC fan's, i'm not counting myself as one of you anymore. Stop whining until we see a decent set of combat clips if you wanna complain about the fighting style. Dark hair will not kill the character. Its a reboot, that's the point >.>

 

[jackanderson]

But... I DO want to like it!

I love Devil May Cry and I really like Ninja Theory (Enslaved was one of the best games of last year that no one played). So this should be great, in theory. But 30FPS is worrying me and, if I'm being honest, the extremely cheesy dialogue is kind of part of its charm.

So, colour me worried. I'll need to see a demo before I decide anything.

 

[shemoanscazrex3]

Yahtzee commented on this one I forgot the exact lines. Basically it went if you change you get fanboy outrage a la new DMC, stay the same a la DMC4 and you get fans crying how it doesn't innovate. Personally I could care less about the fps or how Dante looks as long as the game is fun and playable and I know most people detesting the game will more than likely buy it anyway

 

[Rawne1980]

Ok, just to throw my hat into the ring...

Hey! I actually kind of like the new redesign. But I've got to ask... do people honestly care about the story and characters in Devil May Cry? I mean, I've only watched a few cutscenes and played a bit of 4, so maybe I'm not in the club on this whole issue, but are people honestly complaining about this because of a love for Devil May Cry's apparently rich characters and story? Or just because something is different. Because let me tell you, I've had enough of THAT.

Actually people DO care about the story and characters thats the point.

We've had Dante as he was for years now and all of a sudden they say "but nah, we want him to look like an 80's new romantic" and it just doesn't sit right.

Look at it like this, imagine your favourite band/group and it's members, imagine they replace those members with the Spice Girls .... would you be pissed? Of course you would.

Dante, regardless of what anyone says, is a memorable character. People liked DMC as it was and NT basically took everything people knew and liked, scrunched it up and threw it back at us with a big fuck you.

"But he didn't always have the silvery shiny hair, and it's a reboot" ... reboots are not always good. And no, Dante didn't look the way he did before his demon powers manifested. But in the new DMC, if his demon powers haven't manifested HOW THE FUCK IS HE HOVERING IN THE AIR HACKING SHIT UP WITH A SCYTHE TWICE HIS SIZE. The "it's before his demon side came out" shit just doesn't wash.

Then they are changing actual canon story. Dante's mother was a human, that was the whole reason Sparda took to fighting for the humans in the first place, IT'S THE WHOLE REASON FOR FUCKING DMC. Now NT have come along and said Dante's mother was an Angel .... wait, what? So how would Sparda fit in to fighting for humans, why would Dante give a shit and which moron is writing this crap.

Also, if this is before he became the Dante we now know, where the hell is Virgil. He would still be alive now and as mental as ever unless we're rebooting his whole family and getting rid of his brother ..... the whole reason for DMC 3.

So now lets be honest. This isn't a reboot of Devil May Cry, it's an entirely different game set to sell because it has DMC tagged on to it. They have changed Dante and bastardised the entire fucking story and his family tree. It is not a Devil May Cry game. It's a different game with the same mechanics.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

Actually people DO care about the story and characters thats the point.

We've had Dante as he was for years now and all of a sudden they say "but nah, we want him to look like an 80's new romantic" and it just doesn't sit right.

Look at it like this, imagine your favourite band/group and it's members, imagine they replace those members with the Spice Girls .... would you be pissed? Of course you would.

Dante, regardless of what anyone says, is a memorable character. People liked DMC as it was and NT basically took everything people knew and liked, scrunched it up and threw it back at us with a big fuck you.

"But he didn't always have the silvery shiny hair, and it's a reboot" ... reboots are not always good. And no, Dante didn't look the way he did before his demon powers manifested. But in the new DMC, if his demon powers haven't manifested HOW THE FUCK IS HE HOVERING IN THE AIR HACKING SHIT UP WITH A SCYTHE TWICE HIS SIZE. The "it's before his demon side came out" shit just doesn't wash.

Then they are changing actual canon story. Dante's mother was a human, that was the whole reason Sparda took to fighting for the humans in the first place, IT'S THE WHOLE REASON FOR FUCKING DMC. Now NT have come along and said Dante's mother was an Angel .... wait, what? So how would Sparda fit in to fighting for humans, why would Dante give a shit and which moron is writing this crap.

Also, if this is before he became the Dante we now know, where the hell is Virgil. He would still be alive now and as mental as ever unless we're rebooting his whole family and getting rid of his brother ..... the whole reason for DMC 3.

So now lets be honest. This isn't a reboot of Devil May Cry, it's an entirely different game set to sell because it has DMC tagged on to it. They have changed Dante and bastardised the entire fucking story and his family tree. It is not a Devil May Cry game. It's a different game with the same mechanics.

Actually Dante's ALWAYS had white hair. In the anime (which I believe is canon) there's a picture of him as a kid where his hair is pure white. It's probably supposed to be a sign of his heritage, which is a popular trope in anime and games.