YES! I am aware the discussion on the new devil may cry has been done to absolute death and I myself have done a thread about the game itself once before which was done when the very original trailer came out. However, i didn't make this topic to so much as bash the game as ask you and everyone else a very simple question: Do we (That is, the devil may cry fanbase) have a right to complain and moan as we have right now? Alot of people have said we don't and have seemed to have called us out on it.
Thing is, the reasons that we Don't like it havn't really gotten expanded upon to well. People seem to think the reasons for whining are linked to just the fact that 'they've changed his hair' and that 'we shouldn't judge it until it comes out'. And while the latter argument would be a good one to raise, in this case it's a little bit different (And i will address it much later in this post). Basically, it's all stemmed down to "shut up fanboys!" from pretty much most of the gaming community towards us in regards to what we think about this game.
My opinion was, originally, one of pseudo neutrality (I HATED the redesign but became somewhat confident Ninja theory wanted to do their best to deliver a good game and was prepared to give it a chance). As of recent developments though...i'm once more back on the side of devil may cry fans, and HATING this new game with every fiber of my being.
Why? Well, that's what I'm going to try and explain here today. I'm not saying people are being wrong in thinking it might be good or bad, not here to discuss that. I'm here to propose why i think the fans have a right, in light of whats been unveiled, to complain.
Anyway, i think i've put this all off for long enough, so let's just jump in shall we:
This one has been done to absolute death, resurrected and then done to death on four more occasions after that. But, again, i feel i need to explain just Why the fans are pissed off about this one.
To start, it isn't just about the white hair. Everything about this character screams 'Not Dante'. His attire is completely different, his hair (Color aside) is done totally differently from the young Dante that this is meant to lead up to. His build is gangly and thin, where as Dante was well built. His eyes are red, where as Dante's eyes are blue (Devil Trigger Aside). The facial structure is also completely off as well...so let me ask you guys, How is this Dante? This is like trying to pass off a Donkey as a Race Horse. No matter how hard you try to market it as a horse, it doesn't change the fact that it's a fucking Donkey!
Add to this the change in rebellion from a demonic Zweihander to a shapeshifting weapon (Yep, that morphblade in their has been confirmed as Rebellion) and the change of Ebony and Ivory to revolvers...and you suddenly start to see this isn't just the white hair: This just ain't Dante, it's not even close!
For those few of you who don't know, this is the original Dante:
I've tried to keep this one to a minimum as it's been done to death but, let me ask you this: How is the above picture in any capacity equal the picture below: Is there some magical angle that or condition we have to look at it in for it to look like the old Dante, or are we fans just not seeing the same thing as non-fans and it really is looking exactly like the old Dante? But again, I think fans likely would have accepted or tolerated this in time if not for...my next issue.
Dante has a rather interesting, yet somewhat typical, backstory: Dante is the child of a powerful Demon Warrior called Sparda, who was responsible for sealing away the gates of the demon world and saving mankind. He later fell in love with a human woman called Eva who had two children, Dante and Vergil. Sparda Disappeared sometime during the twins childhood, and when they were six, Eva was murdered by Demons sent by the Prince of Darkness and ruler of the demon world Mundas. The twins seperated, each possesing a half to a powerful amulet said to unlock the demon world and the power of Sparda, go seperate paths. Dante follows the path of the demon hunter, hoping to one day kill Mundas and avenge his mother while Vergil hopes to use the demons and his own powers for his own purposes.
As has just been revealed for the new details set forth by Ninja theory (http://www.siliconera.com/2011/08/16/dmc-devil-may-cry-dante-is-half-devil-and-half-angel/): Dante has now been changed to a half Angel, Half Demon .....Wait, what!? This might seem like a very small detail to some people, but if you know anything about Devil May Cry you will realize just how much this actually changes.
First of all, the detail of Dante being half human was an important part of the series: In a series where most of the bad-guys are fully willing to sacrifice their human side in order to achieve power. Dante Meanwhile was a perfect hybrid between worlds: Fully able to accept his demonic powers and come to use it in his battles, but not willing to compromise on his own humanity for greater power. Plus, as has been shown by the series, "Devil's never cry". They may feel some emotions, but they Can Never have a human soul, experiences, or a heart. That, above all, is what places Dante above his enemies and gives him the power to continue on...something that many of his opponents, especially Agnus, weren't able to understand.
To make him an Angel/Devil Hybrid completely undermines the theme that humanity is in a way superior to demons. It just makes Dante appear lesser then what he once was and even a bit 'gary-sue'. I mean, think about it: An incredibly powerful Demon falls in love and has a child with an angel, a being that is seen to be a paragon of justice and an embodiment of pure, uncompromising good as well as being downright powerful to boot? Tell me that doesn't sound like something you'd find in a thirteen year olds fanfiction.
In a way, Angels are on the opposite spectrum to their demonic counterparts but still quite the same as them: More to the point, one needs to now ask if Dante is the child of an Angel...why is he on earth to start with? You'd think a child of a Demon/Angel would have been pretty much taken to one of his parents planes of reality (In the original Devil May Cry it made more sense as to why something like that didn't happen due to Sparda being trapped in the human world with his powers severely limited. And as both Dante and Vergil were born of one human parent, well, it made some sense as to why Dante was raised on earth). To put it simply, this one little detail..changes absolutely everything about the origin and pretty much makes him a totally different character.
Now, I will admit up until the point the Angelic world and angels havn't had much mention or a presence in Devil May Cry before. In devil May Cry 3, you did have to fight fallen angels at some points but otherwise Heaven had no involvement in the everyday affairs of the human world. I always pictured them as being rather indifferent to humanity and demons due to their minimal presence..and it made some sense in context. I admit the possibility of being able to discover what the Angel world is like and even meet a few angels sounds interesting but again one must ask: Why this change to Dante's backstory, what does it add aside from a new gameplay mechanic? And even then, if this game is a prequel...then this create a whole boatload of continuity issues.
The one thing that stops Dante's whole story from being Cliche is that Dante doesn't Dwell on his past...at all. He keeps it all inside, never bringing it up unless something happens that forces him to. He isn't angry, he isn't brooding or sad..he's actually a very cocky and cheerful guy who's ready to take on anything the world throws at him with a smile. That doesn't mean he can't be serious, as Devil May Cry 1 and 3 have both shown on occasion, but otherwise he's our lovable overconfident neighbourhood Demon hunter.
Ninja theory meanwhile, have taken the opposite route. The first trailer has shown him to be, in short, a very aggressive and even somewhat psychotic individual. Granted, the original Dante was far from a perfect picture of mental health but..he was more like an extreme sports junky and was the sort of person you'd have as a drinking buddy. This Dante though, is the kind of person who if, came knocking at the door, you'd immediately call 911 on. He is shown yelling, scowling and being just overall much more destructive, short tempered and angry at the world around him...things that were NOT something Dante had as part of his personality. He is less an extreme sports junky, and more a psychotic young thug and punk. This has been all but confirmed by Ninja theory as well, who has now added 'has no prospects' to what has just been stated (http://captainstarball.com/news/dmc-dante-now-half-angel-no-prospects). There's also the smoking part but, again, that's been done to death.
As far as I'm concerned, this guy is a totally different character: He looks different, acts different and, above all, has a completely different backstory and origin. But enough about the character, lets move on to some other issues.
I'm gonna be honest, we know practically fuck all about this game: Naturally, we know a bit about it. The game is set in Dante's past, he looks different, the setting is limbo city and he is now a half-devil half-angel and the city is called Limbo City. But, apart from that we don't know jack shit about this game.
I realize it's still a work in progress, but it's been a year and even the basics of the plot still remain illusive: Is it a revenge story? is Dante out to rescue a lost loved one? Is this the 'meeting last year' between him and Vergil that we never saw and was only eluded too?
Other main characters, Antagonists, Bosses, Allies, Story details, even whether Vergils coming back remain a complete and total mystery. Hell, even Devil May Cry 4 atleast had the decency to explain a couple of things around the time of the first trailer: You play Nero, he has a demonic claw, he has to fight Dante because he killed the leader of the order he was with...We don't even know anything like THAT in regards to to this damned game and it has been well over a year and we have seen three trailers. Count 'em THREE! I wouldn't mind so much if these guys didn't have this reputation as being 'expert storycrafters'. Ok, i admit i've played enslaved and it was a decent plot and all but...if you guys are so good at this stuff, then why are you not telling us anything about the plot?
Hell, we don't need the whole plot of it spoiled but atleast an idea as to what the fuck is going on would be nice Ninja theory!
To put this even more in perspective, let's take a look at the two different trailers. The first is the first gameplay footage trailer released by Ninja theory, that was meant to show us what Combat would look like. Needless to say, looking back on it now, it looks pretty...meh to be honest. Combat looks passable, but everything else just seems to be very much like enslaved's combat (Which was passable, but not great). It doesn't really show much effort to try and deliver something fans and players will enjoy as much as 'ok, here's some gameplay we were able to jumble together uhh yeah...GIVE US YOUR MONEY!'
Now, here is the trailer (The very original one mind you) for Devil May Cry 3...Watch it and i'm sure you will see this was made for the fans. It's old now and at times a little hard to make out, but it tells us volumes: It shows us Dante is up against his brother, some new characters are in the field, that Dante is acting like his old self (Something which, after the DMC 2 debacle, was plaguing the minds of many fans) and it showed us some pretty damned cool looking combat. In short, this was a labor of love, like the developers were saying 'We've brought back what you wanted, and we've improved upon things...this is something we are proud of and i'm sure you will be too! Don't worry, we aren't making the same mistakes as the last game"
When this game was first announced, it was announced as a 'dark reimagining' of Devil May Cry. Ok, so we were still skeptical and bitter about the new dante to listen much but we accepted it. Then that changed and it was called a prequel. Ok again we fans said: We can probably see the evolution of Dante to the DMC 3 self throughout this games development right? Well, after that, it was called a 'revamp' and numerous other things.
The recent interview panel with the Ninja theory crew hasn't exactly helped the situation either, as they seemed to do their best to avoid answering questions that many of us wanted answered about the game.
When the developers can't even make up their minds as to whether or not the games a prequel or even answer questions we want answered...you know it's a sign that things are just going to go downhill from there. So, the press is still out on just what this game is even supposed to be!
Yeah, ok, let me back up a bit here and explain what i mean here. Ninja theory hasn't exactly been doing a good job in trying to market this game to the Devil May Cry Fans. We've had the new design, the retcons, the change in Dante's personality and, above all, changing details about just WHAT this game is meant to be as well as no story details at all. But you know what, I'm sure we could forgive most of the above...if it wasn't for Ninja theories PR and announcements being pretty much the equivalent of Neo-Nazi talking about how great the holocaust was in a Jewish Synagogue.
The guys have demonstrated they really don't give a shit about the fans at all or what they think. This was shown, rather recently in fact, in this little gem which actually featured on the Escapists Front Page for a Time (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/112373-Ninja-Theory-Devil-May-Cry-Skeptics-Secretly-Want-to-Like-It). They did nothing to try and minimize fears, instead they just bragged about their product and basically went on to say the fans opinions don't matter at all. To add fuel to this little fire, we have the fact that the developer believes that the Devil May Cry fans are, get this, somewhat Responsible for the low sales of Enslaved (http://thesilentchief.com/2011/02/03/are-devil-may-cry-fans-partially-to-blame-for-poor-enslaved-sales/). Oh yeah, because a fanbase of a totally unrelated game can definitely be responsible for another game not getting good sales at all! I seriously have no idea how that can work, last i checked Devil May Cry Fans didn't go out and raid the Gamestops of all Enslaved copies and set fire to them now did they?
So, if we have a developer who doesn't really care about the fanbase of a project working on a game for them then i must ask...why? If you honestly hold that low a regard for the fans then why not just make a whole different game altogether for capcom to release? Everybody wins and nobody gets upset. But, to make simple PR Mistakes and to pretty much throw any fans to the ground and hurl insults at them every chance you can is not winning you any friends Ninja Theory no matter if the game is good or not.
Ok, so I'm aware this game isn't out yet, which is a common argument that the people of this game are saying to those who are bashing it. But, what i don't really understand is why the devil may cry fans are getting called out on the changing of Dante when other franchises who have had similar things occur have gotten a free ride and support for it. Let me post two well known examples
We saw Cole Mcgrath looking like...that. The fans, to put it bluntly, were PISSED. They begun to complain and the forums practically ended up exploding with outrage at the new appearance of Cole Mcgrath. This got to such levels that the developers actually changed the design in order to please the fans. So, let me ask you something: Why do the Infamous 2 fans get a free ride on this and yet the Devil May Cry fanbase get asked to stop complaining due the vast changes of the main character?
Here's another example I'm sure still haunts the darkest corners of your Nightmares: Spyro. Now, this little guy has had his share of up's and downs. He started on the Playstation and quickly became an icon to most of us (I myself have many fond memories of playing Spyro 2). After the shift to the Playstation 2 though...things quickly deteriorated and Spyro lost it all with the releases of Enter the Dragonfly and Heroes Tail. The reboot was able to somewhat Salvage Spyro, making the shift from 'Terrible' to 'Playable and tolerable' but failed to recapture the magic that was the original Spyro games. However, it still retained a good fan base and even brought back some of the older fans too.
Then came the announcement of Skylanders Spyro and...once again, this is what we got
I think you can predict what happened: Fans moaned, groaned and it became readily obvious that this new game was going to be on par with that of Enter the Dragonfly and heroes tail before it. Yet again though, people didn't seem to think the moaning of the fans was unwarranted at all. So again, why are the Devil May Cry Fans being singled out so badly?
So yeah, there you are: Those are the reasons for the Devil May Cry fanbase being pissed off. As can be seen, this goes far deeper then just 'no longer has white hair'. It may not be out yet, but from what's been shown to the fans hasn't been good to say the least and the developers havn't helped either. We wanted to like this game, I mean it's devil may cry! But, the developers and the game itself has shown itself to quickly be on the path to becoming something we know we aren't going to like at all. Plus, given Capcoms recent...track record...can you really blame the fans for being pissed off like a hornets nest that's just been set on fire?
Yes, I'm aware of the obvious Bias of all this considering I'm apart of this fanbase but the question i wish to ask and have discussed is this: Do we fans, in light of all that i have explained above, have a right to complain, be angry and just be downright pissed about the new DMC? Discuss!
Thing is, the reasons that we Don't like it havn't really gotten expanded upon to well. People seem to think the reasons for whining are linked to just the fact that 'they've changed his hair' and that 'we shouldn't judge it until it comes out'. And while the latter argument would be a good one to raise, in this case it's a little bit different (And i will address it much later in this post). Basically, it's all stemmed down to "shut up fanboys!" from pretty much most of the gaming community towards us in regards to what we think about this game.
My opinion was, originally, one of pseudo neutrality (I HATED the redesign but became somewhat confident Ninja theory wanted to do their best to deliver a good game and was prepared to give it a chance). As of recent developments though...i'm once more back on the side of devil may cry fans, and HATING this new game with every fiber of my being.
Why? Well, that's what I'm going to try and explain here today. I'm not saying people are being wrong in thinking it might be good or bad, not here to discuss that. I'm here to propose why i think the fans have a right, in light of whats been unveiled, to complain.
Anyway, i think i've put this all off for long enough, so let's just jump in shall we:
[HEADING=2]Reason 1: The New Look[/HEADING]
This one has been done to absolute death, resurrected and then done to death on four more occasions after that. But, again, i feel i need to explain just Why the fans are pissed off about this one.
To start, it isn't just about the white hair. Everything about this character screams 'Not Dante'. His attire is completely different, his hair (Color aside) is done totally differently from the young Dante that this is meant to lead up to. His build is gangly and thin, where as Dante was well built. His eyes are red, where as Dante's eyes are blue (Devil Trigger Aside). The facial structure is also completely off as well...so let me ask you guys, How is this Dante? This is like trying to pass off a Donkey as a Race Horse. No matter how hard you try to market it as a horse, it doesn't change the fact that it's a fucking Donkey!
Add to this the change in rebellion from a demonic Zweihander to a shapeshifting weapon (Yep, that morphblade in their has been confirmed as Rebellion) and the change of Ebony and Ivory to revolvers...and you suddenly start to see this isn't just the white hair: This just ain't Dante, it's not even close!
For those few of you who don't know, this is the original Dante:
I've tried to keep this one to a minimum as it's been done to death but, let me ask you this: How is the above picture in any capacity equal the picture below: Is there some magical angle that or condition we have to look at it in for it to look like the old Dante, or are we fans just not seeing the same thing as non-fans and it really is looking exactly like the old Dante? But again, I think fans likely would have accepted or tolerated this in time if not for...my next issue.
[HEADING=2]Reason 2: The Half Angel Dilemma[/HEADING]
Dante has a rather interesting, yet somewhat typical, backstory: Dante is the child of a powerful Demon Warrior called Sparda, who was responsible for sealing away the gates of the demon world and saving mankind. He later fell in love with a human woman called Eva who had two children, Dante and Vergil. Sparda Disappeared sometime during the twins childhood, and when they were six, Eva was murdered by Demons sent by the Prince of Darkness and ruler of the demon world Mundas. The twins seperated, each possesing a half to a powerful amulet said to unlock the demon world and the power of Sparda, go seperate paths. Dante follows the path of the demon hunter, hoping to one day kill Mundas and avenge his mother while Vergil hopes to use the demons and his own powers for his own purposes.
As has just been revealed for the new details set forth by Ninja theory (http://www.siliconera.com/2011/08/16/dmc-devil-may-cry-dante-is-half-devil-and-half-angel/): Dante has now been changed to a half Angel, Half Demon .....Wait, what!? This might seem like a very small detail to some people, but if you know anything about Devil May Cry you will realize just how much this actually changes.
First of all, the detail of Dante being half human was an important part of the series: In a series where most of the bad-guys are fully willing to sacrifice their human side in order to achieve power. Dante Meanwhile was a perfect hybrid between worlds: Fully able to accept his demonic powers and come to use it in his battles, but not willing to compromise on his own humanity for greater power. Plus, as has been shown by the series, "Devil's never cry". They may feel some emotions, but they Can Never have a human soul, experiences, or a heart. That, above all, is what places Dante above his enemies and gives him the power to continue on...something that many of his opponents, especially Agnus, weren't able to understand.
To make him an Angel/Devil Hybrid completely undermines the theme that humanity is in a way superior to demons. It just makes Dante appear lesser then what he once was and even a bit 'gary-sue'. I mean, think about it: An incredibly powerful Demon falls in love and has a child with an angel, a being that is seen to be a paragon of justice and an embodiment of pure, uncompromising good as well as being downright powerful to boot? Tell me that doesn't sound like something you'd find in a thirteen year olds fanfiction.
In a way, Angels are on the opposite spectrum to their demonic counterparts but still quite the same as them: More to the point, one needs to now ask if Dante is the child of an Angel...why is he on earth to start with? You'd think a child of a Demon/Angel would have been pretty much taken to one of his parents planes of reality (In the original Devil May Cry it made more sense as to why something like that didn't happen due to Sparda being trapped in the human world with his powers severely limited. And as both Dante and Vergil were born of one human parent, well, it made some sense as to why Dante was raised on earth). To put it simply, this one little detail..changes absolutely everything about the origin and pretty much makes him a totally different character.
Now, I will admit up until the point the Angelic world and angels havn't had much mention or a presence in Devil May Cry before. In devil May Cry 3, you did have to fight fallen angels at some points but otherwise Heaven had no involvement in the everyday affairs of the human world. I always pictured them as being rather indifferent to humanity and demons due to their minimal presence..and it made some sense in context. I admit the possibility of being able to discover what the Angel world is like and even meet a few angels sounds interesting but again one must ask: Why this change to Dante's backstory, what does it add aside from a new gameplay mechanic? And even then, if this game is a prequel...then this create a whole boatload of continuity issues.
[HEADING=2]Reason 3: Why I now call this Dante ANGRY Kevin instead of Kevin[/HEADING]
The one thing that stops Dante's whole story from being Cliche is that Dante doesn't Dwell on his past...at all. He keeps it all inside, never bringing it up unless something happens that forces him to. He isn't angry, he isn't brooding or sad..he's actually a very cocky and cheerful guy who's ready to take on anything the world throws at him with a smile. That doesn't mean he can't be serious, as Devil May Cry 1 and 3 have both shown on occasion, but otherwise he's our lovable overconfident neighbourhood Demon hunter.
Ninja theory meanwhile, have taken the opposite route. The first trailer has shown him to be, in short, a very aggressive and even somewhat psychotic individual. Granted, the original Dante was far from a perfect picture of mental health but..he was more like an extreme sports junky and was the sort of person you'd have as a drinking buddy. This Dante though, is the kind of person who if, came knocking at the door, you'd immediately call 911 on. He is shown yelling, scowling and being just overall much more destructive, short tempered and angry at the world around him...things that were NOT something Dante had as part of his personality. He is less an extreme sports junky, and more a psychotic young thug and punk. This has been all but confirmed by Ninja theory as well, who has now added 'has no prospects' to what has just been stated (http://captainstarball.com/news/dmc-dante-now-half-angel-no-prospects). There's also the smoking part but, again, that's been done to death.
As far as I'm concerned, this guy is a totally different character: He looks different, acts different and, above all, has a completely different backstory and origin. But enough about the character, lets move on to some other issues.
[HEADING=2]Reason 4: So many secrets, so little details[/HEADING]
I'm gonna be honest, we know practically fuck all about this game: Naturally, we know a bit about it. The game is set in Dante's past, he looks different, the setting is limbo city and he is now a half-devil half-angel and the city is called Limbo City. But, apart from that we don't know jack shit about this game.
I realize it's still a work in progress, but it's been a year and even the basics of the plot still remain illusive: Is it a revenge story? is Dante out to rescue a lost loved one? Is this the 'meeting last year' between him and Vergil that we never saw and was only eluded too?
Other main characters, Antagonists, Bosses, Allies, Story details, even whether Vergils coming back remain a complete and total mystery. Hell, even Devil May Cry 4 atleast had the decency to explain a couple of things around the time of the first trailer: You play Nero, he has a demonic claw, he has to fight Dante because he killed the leader of the order he was with...We don't even know anything like THAT in regards to to this damned game and it has been well over a year and we have seen three trailers. Count 'em THREE! I wouldn't mind so much if these guys didn't have this reputation as being 'expert storycrafters'. Ok, i admit i've played enslaved and it was a decent plot and all but...if you guys are so good at this stuff, then why are you not telling us anything about the plot?
Hell, we don't need the whole plot of it spoiled but atleast an idea as to what the fuck is going on would be nice Ninja theory!
To put this even more in perspective, let's take a look at the two different trailers. The first is the first gameplay footage trailer released by Ninja theory, that was meant to show us what Combat would look like. Needless to say, looking back on it now, it looks pretty...meh to be honest. Combat looks passable, but everything else just seems to be very much like enslaved's combat (Which was passable, but not great). It doesn't really show much effort to try and deliver something fans and players will enjoy as much as 'ok, here's some gameplay we were able to jumble together uhh yeah...GIVE US YOUR MONEY!'
Now, here is the trailer (The very original one mind you) for Devil May Cry 3...Watch it and i'm sure you will see this was made for the fans. It's old now and at times a little hard to make out, but it tells us volumes: It shows us Dante is up against his brother, some new characters are in the field, that Dante is acting like his old self (Something which, after the DMC 2 debacle, was plaguing the minds of many fans) and it showed us some pretty damned cool looking combat. In short, this was a labor of love, like the developers were saying 'We've brought back what you wanted, and we've improved upon things...this is something we are proud of and i'm sure you will be too! Don't worry, we aren't making the same mistakes as the last game"
[HEADING=2]Reason 5: Reboot, Reimagining, Revamp, Prequel, New Series...WHICH ONE IS IT!? [/HEADING]
When this game was first announced, it was announced as a 'dark reimagining' of Devil May Cry. Ok, so we were still skeptical and bitter about the new dante to listen much but we accepted it. Then that changed and it was called a prequel. Ok again we fans said: We can probably see the evolution of Dante to the DMC 3 self throughout this games development right? Well, after that, it was called a 'revamp' and numerous other things.
The recent interview panel with the Ninja theory crew hasn't exactly helped the situation either, as they seemed to do their best to avoid answering questions that many of us wanted answered about the game.
When the developers can't even make up their minds as to whether or not the games a prequel or even answer questions we want answered...you know it's a sign that things are just going to go downhill from there. So, the press is still out on just what this game is even supposed to be!
[HEADING=2]Reason 6: The developers are assholes[/HEADING]
Yeah, ok, let me back up a bit here and explain what i mean here. Ninja theory hasn't exactly been doing a good job in trying to market this game to the Devil May Cry Fans. We've had the new design, the retcons, the change in Dante's personality and, above all, changing details about just WHAT this game is meant to be as well as no story details at all. But you know what, I'm sure we could forgive most of the above...if it wasn't for Ninja theories PR and announcements being pretty much the equivalent of Neo-Nazi talking about how great the holocaust was in a Jewish Synagogue.
The guys have demonstrated they really don't give a shit about the fans at all or what they think. This was shown, rather recently in fact, in this little gem which actually featured on the Escapists Front Page for a Time (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/112373-Ninja-Theory-Devil-May-Cry-Skeptics-Secretly-Want-to-Like-It). They did nothing to try and minimize fears, instead they just bragged about their product and basically went on to say the fans opinions don't matter at all. To add fuel to this little fire, we have the fact that the developer believes that the Devil May Cry fans are, get this, somewhat Responsible for the low sales of Enslaved (http://thesilentchief.com/2011/02/03/are-devil-may-cry-fans-partially-to-blame-for-poor-enslaved-sales/). Oh yeah, because a fanbase of a totally unrelated game can definitely be responsible for another game not getting good sales at all! I seriously have no idea how that can work, last i checked Devil May Cry Fans didn't go out and raid the Gamestops of all Enslaved copies and set fire to them now did they?
So, if we have a developer who doesn't really care about the fanbase of a project working on a game for them then i must ask...why? If you honestly hold that low a regard for the fans then why not just make a whole different game altogether for capcom to release? Everybody wins and nobody gets upset. But, to make simple PR Mistakes and to pretty much throw any fans to the ground and hurl insults at them every chance you can is not winning you any friends Ninja Theory no matter if the game is good or not.
[HEADING=2]Food for thought[/HEADING]
Ok, so I'm aware this game isn't out yet, which is a common argument that the people of this game are saying to those who are bashing it. But, what i don't really understand is why the devil may cry fans are getting called out on the changing of Dante when other franchises who have had similar things occur have gotten a free ride and support for it. Let me post two well known examples
[HEADING=2]Example 1: Infamous 2's bad hair day[/HEADING]
I'm sure you all remember this debaccle: Infamous 2 was announced and a trailer was shown. It was all excitement and gumdrops until...this happened:
We saw Cole Mcgrath looking like...that. The fans, to put it bluntly, were PISSED. They begun to complain and the forums practically ended up exploding with outrage at the new appearance of Cole Mcgrath. This got to such levels that the developers actually changed the design in order to please the fans. So, let me ask you something: Why do the Infamous 2 fans get a free ride on this and yet the Devil May Cry fanbase get asked to stop complaining due the vast changes of the main character?
[HEADING=2]Example 2: Spyro's Eyesore[/HEADING]
Here's another example I'm sure still haunts the darkest corners of your Nightmares: Spyro. Now, this little guy has had his share of up's and downs. He started on the Playstation and quickly became an icon to most of us (I myself have many fond memories of playing Spyro 2). After the shift to the Playstation 2 though...things quickly deteriorated and Spyro lost it all with the releases of Enter the Dragonfly and Heroes Tail. The reboot was able to somewhat Salvage Spyro, making the shift from 'Terrible' to 'Playable and tolerable' but failed to recapture the magic that was the original Spyro games. However, it still retained a good fan base and even brought back some of the older fans too.
Then came the announcement of Skylanders Spyro and...once again, this is what we got
I think you can predict what happened: Fans moaned, groaned and it became readily obvious that this new game was going to be on par with that of Enter the Dragonfly and heroes tail before it. Yet again though, people didn't seem to think the moaning of the fans was unwarranted at all. So again, why are the Devil May Cry Fans being singled out so badly?
[HEADING=2]Closing words and Discussion Value[/HEADING]
So yeah, there you are: Those are the reasons for the Devil May Cry fanbase being pissed off. As can be seen, this goes far deeper then just 'no longer has white hair'. It may not be out yet, but from what's been shown to the fans hasn't been good to say the least and the developers havn't helped either. We wanted to like this game, I mean it's devil may cry! But, the developers and the game itself has shown itself to quickly be on the path to becoming something we know we aren't going to like at all. Plus, given Capcoms recent...track record...can you really blame the fans for being pissed off like a hornets nest that's just been set on fire?
Yes, I'm aware of the obvious Bias of all this considering I'm apart of this fanbase but the question i wish to ask and have discussed is this: Do we fans, in light of all that i have explained above, have a right to complain, be angry and just be downright pissed about the new DMC? Discuss!
