NYCC 2010: Visceral Wants To Make Dante's Purgatory

[IceStar100]

I see it as more puzzle less fight. Man if they make it to heaven I will be amazed. I really want to see how they pull that off.

 

[Danallighieri]

hmm I wonder how that game would be...

 

[JUMBO PALACE]

This game probably will never get green lighted but damn I hope it does. I loved Dante's Inferno and I was more than disappointed at the mediocre reviews it received and the opinion people had of it.

 

[Nocta-Aeterna]

I'm very curious as to how they'll do Paradiso... I mean, do I have to expect Dante ripping off angel wings as he slaugthers his way through the 9 Spheres of Heaven?

Spoiler: Will it be like this?

 

[Jonluw]

I don't really know what to think about this. I always thought there was going to be a sequel, and was rather surprised when I found out that the sequel wasn't confirmed yet.

One thing's for sure though: I won't buy it. I do, after all, consider Dante's inferno to be the worst $100 I ever spent.

 

[Jonluw]

I see it as more puzzle less fight. Man if they make it to heaven I will be amazed. I really want to see how they pull that off.

Maybe they could pull in Ubisoft and make it like Rayman 2? *crosses fingers* Damn, I loved that game.

 

[The Rockerfly]

I would like to see this

The idea behind Dantes inferno was great and some of the atmosphere was truly amazing. Shame about the crappy morality system, broken combat system, lack of epic boss fights especially towards the end and the survival rounds towards the end

These are not hard problems to fix and a sequel could really easily be a fantastic classic if do make these changes

 

[Ethylene Glycol]

Uh...has this jackhole even read the Divine Comedy?

PLEASE!!!!!!! QUIT RAPING DANTE ALIGHIERI! PLLEEEEEEHEHEHEHEEEEZ!!!!!

These people are officially WORSE than George Lucas!

This.

 

[Darth_Dude]

*files under terrible fanfiction passing itself off as a game* Well, I'm done.

Your profile picture made your comment all the more funnier.

 

[procyonlotor]

Uh...has this jackhole even read the Divine Comedy?

PLEASE!!!!!!! QUIT RAPING DANTE ALIGHIERI! PLLEEEEEEHEHEHEHEEEEZ!!!!!

These people are officially WORSE than George Lucas!

This.

This.

For god's sake, this is exactly the kind of thing that gives games a bad rap.

 

[Kyogissun]

Maybe we can have a Salvation War thing going on, with evil god. Or maybe corruption is seeping into Purgatory?

I 'highly' doubt that's going to happen, last thing that EA would probably want to do is actually INCITE hatred from religious groups by making god the bad guy.

I'm gonna agree with Jbird, clearly it was set up in the end for some sort of 'Lucifer is slowly gonna attempt to get back at god' somehow and I wouldn't be surprised if they made it spin to say, have him find a way to imprison god.

At the least, whatever they'd come up with would be a million times better than that bullshit ending in God of War III.

I would like to see this

The idea behind Dantes inferno was great and some of the atmosphere was truly amazing. Shame about the crappy morality system, broken combat system, lack of epic boss fights especially towards the end and the survival rounds towards the end

These are not hard problems to fix and a sequel could really easily be a fantastic classic if do make these changes

Improve the engine, make combat more fun, introduce some more puzzles (Seriously, I loved this from Inferno, the puzzles were actually REALLY good) and just improve everything else.

And no more bullshit 'survival rounds' near the end.

Make the game have a two year development cycle as well, to guarantee it's given all the time it can need to be 'Great' and not just 'decent' like Inferno.

I'm all for more Visceral's 'remix' of these books. Sure, some people are gonna hate it purely on the grounds of 'raping the original material' but there are clearly people here who enjoyed what the game was offering.

If people want to see more, give it to them.

 

[Doclector]

I personally really enjoyed dante's inferno. I know hell seems an obvious setting for videogames, but really, it hasn't been done in a traditional sense much. There's alway some sort of twist, like doom's sci-fi edge, or darksider's (admittedly cool) almost comc book-esque graphical style. To see a traditional fire-and-brymstone style of hell done with modern graphical power was a unique experience. Personally, as a huge fan of hack and slash games, I liked the combat too...>_> Sure it was no Devil May Cry, but it was still pretty good. I will admit it was held up by it's setting and atmosphere way more than the gameplay.

As for the series continuing? I think visceral did a good job of depicting the nine circles well. Sure, the whole ten circles of treachery thing was kinda bad, but on the whole, generally good. I would be at very least, interested, to see what they do with purgatory, especially given the fact that the source material isn't prime videogame stuff. Yes, some twisting of the original story would be required, but I feel the true staying power of Aligheri's work is not the story, but the atmosphere, the setting. When people say dante's inferno (if the game did not exist) they would not usually mention beatrice, or dante, but hell itself, in a way, the biggest character of the work. The one that has lasted, and created our common imaginings of hell. But what direction of the story? Well, if you are not afraid of spoilers, read on:

Spoiler

Okay, nearer to the end of the first game, when date absolves beatrice who is then taken away by an angel (Was it St lucia? I forget now) who says something along the lines of dante's part being bigger than he knew. Then of course, the part at the end where dante rips off his cross only for it to turn into a snake (the traditional mortal form of the devil, let's remeber), that then slithers away to evil laughter. I think that the angels knew that the devil plotted to use dante to escape. They thought that if dante defeated him, he would fail, and having seen dante's actions in hell, they thought he could. When he did, he escaped hell by his own hand, something which has never been done before according to virgil (he said the only way he's ever seen anyone exit hell is by being rescued by an angel) This could mean that by escaping hell, he unexpectedly let the devil out too.

I think it could mean that in purgatory, Dante will have to continue to fight the devil ad his minons, having flooded over into purgatory, before possibly, making a last stand in heaven.

Of course, this is entirely different from the story of the poem, but like I said, the most fascinating part of the poem isn't the story, but the settings.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

I'd play it...I played through most of it on a Gamefly rental for 360, and I'm probably picking up the "Divine Edition" for PS3 one of these days, since the price has sank to $25-30.

Do another game!

 

[Stabby Joe]

While it's true the games are massive deviations from the original source material, I can't help but picture the nay-sayers like this:

I also think some haven't even read the Divine Comedy despite defending it. No one here is going to be impressed if you have. I have but I don't really care about the difference between it and the game because the story on it's own couldn't work but the concept of going through the Judo-Christian afterlife is a great idea.

 

[wammnebu]

im not quite sure how visceral envisioned an action game when the source material is almost entirely dialog and exploration of bizarre locals. The divine comedy sounds to me like an excellent RPG premise

 

[Ekonk]

Purgatory!? Have these people even read the divine comedy? Purgatory is easily the most boring book out of all of them.

Woah, woah, lets not get crazy...

Paradise...did you read paradise? Dante looks at light, says he loves God. Moves a little, sees more lights, says how great God is. The closest thing to a plot is him worrying that later on, he might be arrogant for being shown Heaven. But he can't do that in heaven...oh no...because by definition, if you define plot as a conflict, then heaven can't have a plot. At least purgatory has levels with "bad" guys who have been tortured, and a sense of needing to overcome an obstacle. And there is some interesting punishments. But paradise would be like an episode of Barney, except replace all the characters and actors with dots of light, and even more sacchrine.

Of course there can be plot without conflict. Just not the kind of plot that would make a hack 'n slash video game.

Still, they'll probably make you defend Heaven from the hordes of the now free Lucifer.

 

[King_Serpent]

I'm probably in the minority of people who liked the game for what it is, and I for one would like to see it continue.

Spoilers, for those who haven't beaten the game, nor watch the animated film:

Spoiler

After defeating Lucifer, Dante emerges into Purgatory. Following this, he walks out of a cave to the view of Mount Purgatory. After which, he tears off the now burned tabard he sewn to his chest and tosses it aside. The camera follows the cloth as it drifts to the ground, turns into a snake and slithers off. Maniacal laughter is then heard.

Here is what I would like to see happen, since it is already difficult to come up with a plot for more games. Following the ending of the aforementioned spoiler, something terrible can happen on Mount Purgatory, and the blame will fall on Dante. And, since Purgatory is about redemption for some souls, the powers that be will charge Dante to fix the problem. Said problem can then extend all the way toward Heaven itself, at the risk of copying all of God of War (cliffhanger ending in 2, then 3 starts from there), but hopefully differentiates from it.

I'm sure someone will pick apart this plot-line I just made up on the spot and tell me how wrong I am, but I won't fret over it.

See, I actually am reading The Divine Comedy (not as much, though), and I like the stupefied story in the game. I mean, the book is great for it's depictions of Hell, but it's mostly the writer's political and religious soapbox, which bogs the story down, in my opinion.

Read to the end, the start comes off as a bit rude sorry:
Do you know why the story ?is bogged down with all these ?soapbox? politics, as you describe it, and is still read today. It is because that is whole point. The story gives not only an interesting perspective on hell (and that is great) but also adds a context. Dante had big enough balls to place kings and popes (who during his life were still alive) in hell. It gives the story context and even differences in opinion from today. For example, the Roman biased view placed Odysseus in hell now that is interesting. Everyone today see this character as the good guy. However, back then, because of the destruction of Troy (the spiritual predecessor of Rome) he is demonized in Dante?s lifetime. Still, I can understand why you say this. Some of the characters are so insignificant you wish Dante just passed them over. I just want to say that the book would not be nearly as well read without the politics. Anyway, it is great that your reading (or read?) the book. The best part is that you have your own opinion on the subject. I slightly disagree with it, as stated above, but different opinions are very important in society.

Also, your story sounds a little like Darksiders. Details, however, are all important to a story, so I need more than this to give a fair judgment. Keep at it.

 

[Latinidiot]

Purgatory acoording To Alighieri is a great big mountain the mild sinners have to climb, with different challenges for different sinners. My guess is that it could be an excellent PoP clone with some clever puzzles.

Of course, they'll make a hack n slasher, because that's what they do, but one can have dreams right?

oh well.