I haven't played the game, and I have little evidence to base my opinions upon. I however can say with absolute certainty the emotions I experienced while watching the DMC5 trailer.
Before I do that however I want to help you understand me a bit better. I have always been a fan of Devil May Cry, I even 100% the second one, which is hailed as the worst of the franchise, and I agree. I was so impressed by the game's design, general message, and place as a work of art that it became a dream of mine to go into the Video Game business and work for Capcom, so that maybe one day I could work on DMC.
Being that I have no way of making any judgments on a game that has yet to be released, I will describe to you in detail what went through my mind when I watched that trailer.
When It started up my immediate thought was that it had lost the quality of set designs, that the Gothic, Castlevania, environment was now replaced with an urban one. I was somewhat excited by this, albeit cautious, because the thought of fighting demons through a red light district always felt like something Dante would do. Then we saw a mental asylum, with a figure, no doubt our hero (not necessarily Dante at this point)strung up like a sick prisoner/puppet. The scene itself was poetically powerful, but I was a bit annoyed because I had not seen Dante yet, and that person could not be him. Not the black haired, skinny prisoner, stripped of his dignity, as Dante would never allow himself to be.
Fine, I thought, maybe its like DMC4 again, and this fellow is another Nero. Another gifted soul who struggles against a world that is unaware of the Demonic influences. After all Dante met Trish and Lady, so there has to be other demon slaying meta-humans out there. I thought it might be cool, to see the way this person who was clearly not Dante, solved his problems. Which he illustrated by putting a cig' out on some poor bastard's face. Perhaps he only lit a smoke for that sole purpose. Perhaps where Dante was a cool and precise force, and Nero a vessel of retribution, Perhaps this new hero was that of pure hateful rage.
By this point I was most excited, watching how the character seemed to bridge Nero and Dante's style from the fourth installment. As the voice asked who this man was, and I still had no suspicions that it was my hero, I could only barely resist the urge to ask it myself.
Then the fateful words. "My Name Is Dante."
And My heart fell out of my chest. All at once the possibilities I had imagined, the glory I had fooled myself into seeing, and the dream of one day seeing my hand in the DMC franchise, along with my fragile strawberry-tart(watch Crank2 if you don't know what this is)hit the floor and shattered like precious crystal flutes. I was and still am crushed. Having my emotions toyed with, and being lead to excitement only to discover that I no longer recognized one of my personal heroes was crushing in a way I cannot describe. It was like watching the developers murder Dante right in front of me, and then skinning his face so that another impostor could wear it as a mask.
It is so hard to accept, in fact, that a part of me holds out in denial, that this is just some sick joke, the developers are just playing with me and seeing just how loyal I am to their franchise. I deny enough to hope that the new game will have a white haired Dante that I recognize, but it is a sliver of hope at best.
I have not played the game. I can only go on what I have seen and have felt. That is what I have left here, how that trailer made me feel.
Before I do that however I want to help you understand me a bit better. I have always been a fan of Devil May Cry, I even 100% the second one, which is hailed as the worst of the franchise, and I agree. I was so impressed by the game's design, general message, and place as a work of art that it became a dream of mine to go into the Video Game business and work for Capcom, so that maybe one day I could work on DMC.
Being that I have no way of making any judgments on a game that has yet to be released, I will describe to you in detail what went through my mind when I watched that trailer.
When It started up my immediate thought was that it had lost the quality of set designs, that the Gothic, Castlevania, environment was now replaced with an urban one. I was somewhat excited by this, albeit cautious, because the thought of fighting demons through a red light district always felt like something Dante would do. Then we saw a mental asylum, with a figure, no doubt our hero (not necessarily Dante at this point)strung up like a sick prisoner/puppet. The scene itself was poetically powerful, but I was a bit annoyed because I had not seen Dante yet, and that person could not be him. Not the black haired, skinny prisoner, stripped of his dignity, as Dante would never allow himself to be.
Fine, I thought, maybe its like DMC4 again, and this fellow is another Nero. Another gifted soul who struggles against a world that is unaware of the Demonic influences. After all Dante met Trish and Lady, so there has to be other demon slaying meta-humans out there. I thought it might be cool, to see the way this person who was clearly not Dante, solved his problems. Which he illustrated by putting a cig' out on some poor bastard's face. Perhaps he only lit a smoke for that sole purpose. Perhaps where Dante was a cool and precise force, and Nero a vessel of retribution, Perhaps this new hero was that of pure hateful rage.
By this point I was most excited, watching how the character seemed to bridge Nero and Dante's style from the fourth installment. As the voice asked who this man was, and I still had no suspicions that it was my hero, I could only barely resist the urge to ask it myself.
Then the fateful words. "My Name Is Dante."
And My heart fell out of my chest. All at once the possibilities I had imagined, the glory I had fooled myself into seeing, and the dream of one day seeing my hand in the DMC franchise, along with my fragile strawberry-tart(watch Crank2 if you don't know what this is)hit the floor and shattered like precious crystal flutes. I was and still am crushed. Having my emotions toyed with, and being lead to excitement only to discover that I no longer recognized one of my personal heroes was crushing in a way I cannot describe. It was like watching the developers murder Dante right in front of me, and then skinning his face so that another impostor could wear it as a mask.
It is so hard to accept, in fact, that a part of me holds out in denial, that this is just some sick joke, the developers are just playing with me and seeing just how loyal I am to their franchise. I deny enough to hope that the new game will have a white haired Dante that I recognize, but it is a sliver of hope at best.
I have not played the game. I can only go on what I have seen and have felt. That is what I have left here, how that trailer made me feel.
