Saturday, September 25, 2010

Why I think the shitstorm surrounding DMC5 (DmC) is unwarranted

     Avid Devil May Cry fanatics all over the internet have been crying in protest at the teaser trailer for 'Devil May Cry 5'. Normally these fans will shit bricks over any, and everything that's coming out of Japan, regardless of quality, but perhaps this is where the problem lies. Devil May Cry 5 (Sorry, it's called "DmC" now.) is being released by a UK developer.


     Videogame fans are some of the winiest fans out there. Rivaled maybe only by Trekkers and Anime junkies. Any time a discrepency comes along, the fans are there to whine and moan about it until the developers are forced to crush any semblance of creativity to appease their buyers. We saw this example with Infamous 2, where the fans rallied up petitions and whine-campaigns for the devs to change Cole back to his original form, Sucker Punch had little choice but to settle even. Thus far there seems to be even more rage surrounding the DmC trailer, spawning hateful death threat YouTube comments towards Capcom.


Beloved Video Game Icon or Chip N' Dale Dancer?
     The DmC trailer (which I've embedded below) features a lithe, dark haired boy messing shit up in the typical Hack and Slash fashion. If this were not a DMC title, most people would probably play the game without any qualms. The issue here, is between the general intelligence of the fans of the series and what Ninja Theory (Not to be confused with Team Ninja) plan to do with the game. Unfortunately, most fans lack the innate ability to INFER things, and thusly do not understand what's happening in the trailer. NO, Dante did not lost 90lbs of muscle, 6" of height and his shaggy (if a bit homosexual) white hair. I doubt even NT (responsible for the monstrously disappointing Heavenly Sword) would be so stupid. No, the fact is, that while it may be DMC5, this is in fact, meant to be more of an origin story, set before even DMC3. The Dante in the trailer is not the hot-headed, smug, campy as hell Dante we all know (and some love). He is a younger, more rebellious, and lankier version of his older, more familiar self. Unfortunately 99% of the userbase of YouTube fails to understand this.


     I, personally, think this is refreshing. Ninja Theory's lead designer stated that what "was cool 9 years ago is not cool now." Venturing into past fashions, bootcut jeans and velour tracksuits, there is a weight of truth in his statement. The re-boot has definitely made Dante's image more "current", but of course, ultimately we'll have to see how the game is in terms of gameplay. Characters are only so relevant. 


4 comments:

  1. I think it will be pretty good.

    ReplyDelete
  2. you the dmc 1-4 was best because of the plot connecting all 4 and the inter relation of the characters the fact that its of japan is notjing to do with its popularity , its popular becoz its simply good,and now some new story with new background comes and takes name of dante, why name it dante when it has nothing to do with him rpg dont become popular just becoz of the action but plot too and the franchise just shot all the story to hell , now say how we are supposed to accept it , try palying all 4 and then DmC then u will realise why they are angry

    ReplyDelete