So how would you have made Dantes Inferno then?

[ultrachicken]

I would simply make it a better rip off of god of war.
Honestly, what's wrong with ripping off gameplay elements? When Doom was new people called every fps a Doom rip off. All sandbox games are currently known as GTA rip offs. And now any adventure-hack and slash game is known as a rip off of devil may cry or GoW.
Just because a different game did well in a genre doesn't mean that any other games that come out in that genre are rip-offs.
*rant*

 

[TheNumber1Zero]

But more importantly, how do you kill that which is already dead?

You don't just kill it, you kill it dead.

Seeing as I have never read the poem, I would probably find some way to rip off Shadow of the Colossus, because I am lazy.

 

[thestickman91]

"...with blackjack and hookers. In fact, forget the game and the blackjack. Ahh, screw the whole thing!"

 

[eels05]

I wouldn't make it.

I'm not trying to withhold the glory of the poem or anything, but I just wouldn't make it because its too close to God of War any way you make it.

So your saying if you were employed as a video game designer,and your next job was to enterperet Dante's Inferno into a video game format you'd walk off the job?
Keeping in mind you dont have to make it like GOW.

That's what I said isn't it?

Any playable version of Dante's Inferno would end up being too much like God of War or Devil May Cry.

A mythology based action game has already been made and very well mind you.

But you DON'T have to make it like GOW.
Yeah I see the irony it that statement.If they didn't have to why did they then?Probably because they employed designers from GOW on this game as well.That could possibly be their excuse,but you'd just quit your job?
A bit extreme?

I didn't say I'd quit. I just wouldn't do it.

I'd move on to that game idea I've had for about 3 years that no developer has come close to.

Alot of those designers are also employees.They're tasked with doing a job.They want to eat and pay their bills they do the best with the source material.
Not to infer anyone has a gun to their heads,but still.

 

[Aura Guardian]

You do know that God of War is a rip-off too right?

Anyway. It's good the way it is.

 

[TheNumber1Zero]

"...with blackjack and hookers. In fact, forget the game and the blackjack, and the . Ahh, screw the whole thing!"

A Paraphrased Futurama reference?

 

[eels05]

I'd make it as the poem stated it....though throw in some open interpretation or perhaps open up different possibilities. Meaning multiple endings, heavy weight choices, and so forth. Keep it like the poem of course.

The trouble is any heavy weight choices are going to run the possibility of offending the Literary snobs out there.If it didn't happen in the poem,you've apparently stepped over the line.How the hell are you meant to appease that?

 

[eels05]

You do know that God of War is a rip-off too right?

Anyway. It's good the way it is.

This

 

[Benjeezy]

Maybe as a horror game somehow? Could that work?

 

[Paperplanes79]

Well considering the fact that Dante in the poem is a pretty wimpy guy I'd make it akin to Heavy Rain. Where you make choices and there's not too much gameplay it's a more cinematic story based game. That'd be pretty interesting and you've have more time to reflect on the meaning and morals of the poem. As opposed to just cutting everything head off and flashy animations flying around. But I'll probably wind up buying Dante's just because i love GOW and the setting has gotten me excited. I don't understand all the flak it is getting for being a clone. It seems to be hurting the game too much. It's become more then a comparison and is now a reason for people not to buy it even though they love that type of game even though it's pretty solid from the demo i played. Oh sometimes people just make me scratch my head and think.

 

[Shamanic Rhythm]

I would have not made a shallow attempt to cash in on the established name of a literary classic. And for anyone who thinks that EA's interpretation of the Inferno has any validity or place in the world whatsoever, think about it this way. Dante's Divine Comedy is a trilogy. Many games come out in trilogies purely because they're guaranteed to sell if they're a sequel. However, while there is very slim justification for taking the concept of Hell and pitting Dante against demons, there is absolutely no excuse for him to be fighting anything when he goes to Purgatory or Paradise. None. Zip. Which means if sequels come out set in either of those two locations, they will officially be pissing all over the canon.

Long story short: I would have called it something else.

 

[internetzealot1]

I'm sick of people saying its a God of War ripoff because, frankly, most hack n' slash brawlers look identical at first glance.

 

[internetzealot1]

I would simply make it a better rip off of god of war.
Honestly, what's wrong with ripping off gameplay elements? When Doom was new people called every fps a Doom rip off. All sandbox games are currently known as GTA rip offs. And now any adventure-hack and slash game is known as a rip off of devil may cry or GoW.
Just because a different game did well in a genre doesn't mean that any other games that come out in that genre are rip-offs.
*rant*

Don't forget that any 3rd person shooter with a cover system is a Gears of War ripoff.

 

[Sandwich Man]

I'd make it an exploration based game with heavy stealth elements, and an emphasis on dialogue with the various people Dante met while in Hell.

I mean, bastardisation or not, how fucking awesome would it be to argue with Plato or Socrates in a video game?

 

[Chewster]

I wouldn't bother because old literature doesn't really translate all that well into various new media.

 

[PurpleRain]

It might, but then all the frat boys and the like who bought the game based off the Super Bowl commercial they're gonna air would realize that Dante never fought anyone, the book wasn't filled with tits and violence, and it was a poem. I doubt they'd stay interested for long.

Actually, dude was in a cavalier. He was a front row warrior.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Campaldino
He eventually became banished, but I'm not really into that part yet. The book holds a tremendous amount of detail about his life and the current Italian history.

Basically, Italy was divided between people who wanted the pope as the ruler and the Roman Imperial system. I can guess you can figure out which he was rooting for.

In a way. It caused me to want to know what it was about, then I learned via Wikipedia that it was completely based in Christianity, which simply doesn't agree with me.

*Cough*
Christianity is an odd mixture of the Jewish religion and the ancient Greek religions. Dante shows this off all the time with Kerberus and Alcides and also using the Greek heaven and hell, etc.

The problem with people seeking this game after playing the game is that they will be expecting to get what they got off the game in the book. The game is a love story where you kill death and massacre your way through hell. From my understanding, the original poem is about one man's journey and description of hell, purgatory, and heaven as he makes his way through it.

Well, it was also a book about religion, society and politics and general stories of the time revolving around them. There is a love plot involved. A love between master and student, Virgil and Dante, and love between woman and man, Dante and Beatrice, and love between man and god.

I don't know so much about it, but I hear there's an achievement for infanticide.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/10/26/

That just doesn't quite seem right. The babies in the first circle of hell ar just babies that died before they were ever baptized, and never had a chance to do good or bad. For that reason, you can't really be expected to kill them right?

But more importantly, how do you kill that which is already dead?

You can't, which is the stupid bit. No one in hell dies which is the misery of it. Which is the first flaw of the game.

I wouldn't make it.

I'm not trying to withhold the glory of the poem or anything, but I just wouldn't make it because its too close to God of War any way you make it.

So your saying if you were employed as a video game designer,and your next job was to enterperet Dante's Inferno into a video game format you'd walk off the job?
Keeping in mind you dont have to make it like GOW.

I wouldn't. I would claim all the rights to the entire thing and take it with me to my grave making sure that in my life time, things like this never happen. Ever.

I would have not made a shallow attempt to cash in on the established name of a literary classic. And for anyone who thinks that EA's interpretation of the Inferno has any validity or place in the world whatsoever, think about it this way. Dante's Divine Comedy is a trilogy. Many games come out in trilogies purely because they're guaranteed to sell if they're a sequel. However, while there is very slim justification for taking the concept of Hell and pitting Dante against demons, there is absolutely no excuse for him to be fighting anything when he goes to Purgatory or Paradise. None. Zip. Which means if sequels come out set in either of those two locations, they will officially be pissing all over the canon.

Long story short: I would have called it something else.

Sinners still get tortured on Mount Purgatory. It's where people who have committed the seven deadly sins go to get punished.

So dare I say this so that all may listen?

No one is upset that Dante's Inferno has become a game. People are upset because it was done with no taste, no care nor affection. The poem had such a profound effect on Italy and eventually the world as its religion really spanned out. The Divine Comedy is something akin to great art like The Mona Lisa (as an example). Instead of making a game where it had its just treatment, filled with metaphors or whatnot, it was dumbed down and filled with tits and gore. This is not what the poem was EVER about.

But then, why trust anything in the hands of EA?

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I wouldn't have made the game at all. Really, I see the original Diablo as being more true to the original poem.

OT: I would have changed the name to anything but Dante's Inferno. Perhaps 'Graf Orlox and the Manic Specter' or, 'To Hell and Back!'

Secondly, I would have made the fact that you wield Death's Scythe a secret and made the weapon obtainable after having gone through a series of difficult quests. Obtaining the weapon would have also needed to be much more difficult than it was in the game and, more importantly, I would have made sure Death was Death and not a whining little *****. There isn't really much more I can say about it though because I don't actually own the game nor did I rent it. I played the demo once and wasn't inspired ...

 

[Nicolai]

Honestly, if I had the ability to do so, a Dante's Inferno would come out something like a combination of a Team ICO game for the visuals and drama, Heavy rain for the environment and interaction and that interaction would slowly draw the environment to life, the way Flower does. It should be a game of exploring the unknown, not slaughtering everything that moves.

It should be inspiring you to keep moving towards love, while being able to see ghastly visions of what your future could otherwise be.

I'd also probably make the whole trilogy, since the journey is somewhat meaningless if you stop at the entrance to Purgatory and make sure people have the opportunity to understand some deep symbolism, even if it's not actually for them, since that's the kind of experience the original gave me.

Or I'd toss the Dante's Inferno idea and go make Milton's Paradise Lost instead, tough call, really.