by Tuffty » Wed Sep 15, 2010 1:51 pm
Can we please not call this DMC5? Because it's not DMC5 at all, it's a reboot. And a pretty pointless one.
Playing devil's advocate here for a moment and saying that, in it's defense, it is a reboot and thus they have the license to take the game in any direction they wish. They can pretty much do away with any kind of series canon or continuity. So they can never even mention the likes of Sparda, Vergil, Lady, Trish, with justification. They can make Dante look and act however they wish, with justification. I, like many others, wonder why in god's name they gave him black hair when his trademark white/silver hair is hereditary from birth or make him smoke when Hideki Kamiya specifically designed Dante not to smoke because he thought he would be cooler for it, but again, they can just say it's a reboot innit?
Ok, devil's advocate mode switched off right now, so let me say I was hugely disappointed when I first of all heard it was Ninja Theory behind it. They're not necessarily a bad developer, but it was an immediate indication of what the game was going to play like. QTE's and simplified combat. It's not what I expect from a DMC game with it's combo possibilities and focus on stylish gameplay. I'm probably one of the only few ones who think that DMC4 was in fact perfectly accessible on the default setting so I certainly wouldn't want a game that played like Heavenly Sword, something widely regarded as a below average GoW clone, and that's being generous. Then I saw the screenshots and the trailer and Dante......I like to think that Dante is a notable character in the industry. He's no Mario, but if you show a picture of him to someone who follows the game industry heavily, then they can likely identify him. So I really don't understand the need for a re-invention. And into such an ugly character too. Is this really what they think Western audiences prefer? Ugly ass characters? Is it because they read too many comments from 12 yr olds or sexually confused males when they saw an open shirted Dante in DMC3 and labelled him as effeminate? What was effeminate about Dante in the games other than DMC3 exactly? Was it the overalls? The masculine voice? The stubble he got in DMC4? This 'new' Dante? He looks terrible. I am not appealed by this character at all. I like how Dante looks and behaves in DMC3 and 4. A cool, carefree, swaggering badass who likes to show off with style at any opportunity and making the art of demon slaying look a hell of a lot easier than it is. I look at this new one and think he'd be better suited on the catwalk of a hipster fashion event. Or a Sid Vicious knock off. I read a comment that summed my feeling up, how can I feel like I'm playing Devil May Cry when this non-Dante makes me feel like I'm playing a DMC knock off?
Now, I'm not so much of a ravid fanboy that I'm calling out for Ninja Theory's heads or demanding the game to be scrapped. In fact, I welcome it when someone decides to shake up a long running series and see what happens. Hell I should probably be quiet until I see some actual gameplay or play a demo. I just consider it a very odd decision from Capcom. DMC is one of their top IP's, so the need to reinvent it is rather pecuilar. Really, I would have been sold on DMC5. People complain about DMC4 because of those backtracking moments but really, it was a fairly early next gen console game, which I believe was rushed just to get it out there for release. I'm sure they know about that criticism all too well so it would be unlikely to be repeated.
Here I was thinking DMC2 was the black sheep of the family. I seriously hope Capcom haven't given up on the 'original' DMC. I'll miss that type of gameplay or the craziness that you can only really seem to get from a Japanese developer. And don't tell me Ninja Theory are likely to replicate that. They won't. Otherwise why outsource the development to a Western developer when they can't even make interesting DMC clones? Seems that with the release of Bayonetta, it's been rightly regarded as the best in the genre, so expectations were certainly high on what to expect from DMC5 were it to ever be released. Sadly, this seems like a huge step back and I feel saddened that the decision by Capcom has pissed off diehard fans and alienated non-fans even further from the series. It almost seems like no hope for a return to classic form if it is badly regarded and that, sadly, kills enthusiasm for the genre and removes an OTT, crazy game from an industry so saturated in self-seriousness or 'realism'. It just makes the industry less exciting.