Should games be punished for lack of originality?

[Plurralbles]

All this talk about God of War in an originality thread. Wasn't God of War just Devil May Cry with a brawny dude? (And yes, we can go back for generations in this genre. )

... One has a chain sword, one has a guitar that when he plays bats come out of it....

I dont' see the connection.

Like someone else said, games can improve the genre and/or just do things so well they carve themselves their own little niche.

 

[Fniff]

I think they should.

A game needs to have a defining feature, or else, it's just like those rip offs of Mario in the 1980's.

 

[JEBWrench]

All this talk about God of War in an originality thread. Wasn't God of War just Devil May Cry with a brawny dude? (And yes, we can go back for generations in this genre. )

... One has a chain sword, one has a guitar that when he plays bats come out of it....

I dont' see the connection.

Like someone else said, games can improve the genre and/or just do things so well they carve themselves their own little niche.

Dante had a bat-spewing guitar?

But I think you pretty much hit the nail on the head - it's not whose idea it is, it's how well it's done. GoW took mechanics from a handful of other franchises (DMC and Shenmue), and made them both work so well that both gameplay elements combine into GoW clone.

On the other hand, you're talking about a big dude smashing tons of dudes. Originality is not what this is about. It's just fun. Any game that had dudes smashing tons of dudes could be fun. Original or otherwise.

 

[Plurralbles]

I think they should.

A game needs to have a defining feature, or else, it's just like those rip offs of Mario in the 1980's.

Um...

http://boardsus.playstation.com/playstation/board/message?board.id=offtopic&thread.id=2172189

quickest page I could find that illustrates your sentence's glaring fallacy.

Though I'll admit that other gamesprobably did rip off of SMB1 and 3.

 

[Brad Shepard]

if the games good i really could care less, more so sence all of the "Original IPS" right now are clones (im looking at you Dante's inferno!)

 

[Amnestic]

All this talk about God of War in an originality thread. Wasn't God of War just Devil May Cry with a brawny dude? (And yes, we can go back for generations in this genre. )

... One has a chain sword, one has a guitar that when he plays bats come out of it....

I dont' see the connection.

Like someone else said, games can improve the genre and/or just do things so well they carve themselves their own little niche.

Dante had a bat-spewing guitar?

Devil May Cry 3. It's actually a succubus turned into a weapon. See? (Devil Trigger mode) [http://www.thatguys.co.uk/uploaded_images/nevan-790194.jpg] Original form [http://ps2media.ign.com/ps2/image/article/588/588735/devil-may-cry-3-dantes-awakening-20050217061802396-000.jpg]

 

[Ricotez]

Being inspired by other games or copying gameplay mechanics doesn't have to be a bad thing per se, especially considering that, as more and more games come out, it only gets harder to come up with something original. It's mainly the way those elements are presented that determines whether it feels like copypasta or something new.

In a way, all first person shooters rip off Doom, which in turn rips off Wolfenstein 3D. Still, would you consider a game like Bioshock or Half-Life to be a rip-off of Doom? All three games share elements (first person view, ugly things that need to die, weapons, which of course isn't really ground-breaking plagiarism, but they do have them all three), but because they present those elements in greatly different ways, they feel different.

I should add I never played any of the Doom games. I did play both Bioshock and Half-Life.

 

[Zani]

As the industry grows, the more games will be made (duh) and as that happens gaming will someday (maybe) become completely saturated and originality would become a thing of the past, and it already seems like that has begun, with developers sticking a tried and tested formula for games.

But then again in this case, it's mostly God of War fanboys bitching about Dante's Inferno.

 

[manythings]

All this talk about God of War in an originality thread. Wasn't God of War just Devil May Cry with a brawny dude? (And yes, we can go back for generations in this genre. )

... One has a chain sword, one has a guitar that when he plays bats come out of it....

I dont' see the connection.

Like someone else said, games can improve the genre and/or just do things so well they carve themselves their own little niche.

Dante had a bat-spewing guitar?

Devil May Cry 3. It's actually a succubus turned into a weapon. See? (Devil Trigger mode) [http://www.thatguys.co.uk/uploaded_images/nevan-790194.jpg] Original form [http://ps2media.ign.com/ps2/image/article/588/588735/devil-may-cry-3-dantes-awakening-20050217061802396-000.jpg]

I'm not seeing any connection between dante and kratos beyond fucking up monsters for the reason that they are, in fact, monsters.

This is basically a re-tread of the old idea that books that aren't a new story should never be published concept. Everything is derivative. A lot of research into the idea of stories says there are six to twelve stories that are just rehashed. All you can do is take and old story and give it a new spin. For example the exact opposite Star Wars.

 

[Hazardlife]

It makes me laugh, seeing people slag off DI for having similar elements to God of War.

Here's some news for you, Prince of Persia and Devil May Cry were doing hack-n-slash action long before Kratos came along.

 

[Macgyvercas]

It seems to make sense to rip off a formula that proven wildly successful. And quite frankly, if it holds my attention and helps me blow a couple of hours, I really don't give two shits if a game if the most original thing ever or the most obviously blatant ripoff ever created. The main question that I ask before I play a game...Do I think it will be fun? If yes, I play it regardless of who it steals from.

 

[Fappy]

It makes me laugh, seeing people slag off DI for having similar elements to God of War.

Here's some news for you, Prince of Persia and Devil May Cry were doing hack-n-slash action long before Kratos came along.

I always thought of Prince of Persia as more of a platforming action game that a hack-n-slash.

 

[Sky Captanio]

Aren't all hack and slash games ripping off each other? I see Dante's Inferno, Darksiders and God of War lined up, it's the same game with a different skin.

 

[JEBWrench]

I'm not seeing any connection between dante and kratos beyond fucking up monsters for the reason that they are, in fact, monsters.

This is basically a re-tread of the old idea that books that aren't a new story should never be published concept. Everything is derivative. A lot of research into the idea of stories says there are six to twelve stories that are just rehashed. All you can do is take and old story and give it a new spin. For example the exact opposite Star Wars.

That is the connection. The very essence of the gameplay of both of them.

Devil May Cry 3. It's actually a succubus turned into a weapon. See? (Devil Trigger mode) [http://www.thatguys.co.uk/uploaded_images/nevan-790194.jpg] Original form [http://ps2media.ign.com/ps2/image/article/588/588735/devil-may-cry-3-dantes-awakening-20050217061802396-000.jpg]

I believe the phrase there is "jumped the shark".

It makes me laugh, seeing people slag off DI for having similar elements to God of War.

Here's some news for you, Prince of Persia and Devil May Cry were doing hack-n-slash action long before Kratos came along.

I always thought of Prince of Persia as more of a platforming action game that a hack-n-slash.

Same here; though I didn't play beyond SoT, the combat seemed just kinda in there (especially in the way earlier games).
The game that SoT takes its engine from, Beyond Good and Evil, had much better combat in the form of smashing a bunch of bad guys.

 

[DragonChi]

My motivation for wanting to buy Dante's Inferno is for the storyline and the atmospheres that reflect the 9 circles of hell. i love the concept.

as for the debate about the execution of the game, there isnt much i can say. i havent played it yet. but from the videos that ive seen, the gameplay style seemed to work. whether its stolen or not, and the reasons behind it can remain up for debate.

I can only speculate on what I'm wanting out of the game, and so far i like what i see.

 

[Fappy]

I'm not seeing any connection between dante and kratos beyond fucking up monsters for the reason that they are, in fact, monsters.

This is basically a re-tread of the old idea that books that aren't a new story should never be published concept. Everything is derivative. A lot of research into the idea of stories says there are six to twelve stories that are just rehashed. All you can do is take and old story and give it a new spin. For example the exact opposite Star Wars.

That is the connection. The very essence of the gameplay of both of them.

Devil May Cry 3. It's actually a succubus turned into a weapon. See? (Devil Trigger mode) [http://www.thatguys.co.uk/uploaded_images/nevan-790194.jpg] Original form [http://ps2media.ign.com/ps2/image/article/588/588735/devil-may-cry-3-dantes-awakening-20050217061802396-000.jpg]

I believe the phrase there is "jumped the shark".

It makes me laugh, seeing people slag off DI for having similar elements to God of War.

Here's some news for you, Prince of Persia and Devil May Cry were doing hack-n-slash action long before Kratos came along.

I always thought of Prince of Persia as more of a platforming action game that a hack-n-slash.

Same here; though I didn't play beyond SoT, the combat seemed just kinda in there (especially in the way earlier games).
The game that SoT takes its engine from, Beyond Good and Evil, had much better combat in the form of smashing a bunch of bad guys.

I think this debate can be put to rest by saying all these games are ripping off a game from a previous generation. What game remind me of God of War? Golden Axe does. God of War is a rip off of Golden Axe and you don't even get to kick the shit out of chicken stealing elves... fucking fail.

 

[JEBWrench]

I think this debate can be put to rest by saying all these games are ripping off a game from a previous generation. What game remind me of God of War? Golden Axe does. God of War is a rip off of Golden Axe and you don't even get to kick the shit out of chicken stealing elves... fucking fail.

That was the crux of my point. The entire genre isn't looking to set the world aflame with innovation. It's just trying to be fun.

 

[achilleas.k]

They should be punished, but sadly they're rewarded. It seems the generic rip-offs sell by the shitloads while most original games barely break even. Same with films, music, TV shows and a few more things I haven't thought of in the 2 minutes it took me to write this. Welcome to opposite world.

 

[FightThePower]

Yes. Whilst a good game is still a good game regardless of originality, it gets very boring if we have the same thing over and over.

People should not get money for old rope.

 

[Fappy]

I think this debate can be put to rest by saying all these games are ripping off a game from a previous generation. What game remind me of God of War? Golden Axe does. God of War is a rip off of Golden Axe and you don't even get to kick the shit out of chicken stealing elves... fucking fail.

That was the crux of my point. The entire genre isn't looking to set the world aflame with innovation. It's just trying to be fun.

My problem is with the genre in general. It really has not progressed enough in the last decade to warrant me dropping 60 dollars on a new game. I don't really see any good amount of replay value in any of them... its sad really... the games that defined the genre in the 90's were so good too