It is with absolutely zero reservation or hesitation that I say with the utmost seriousness:
Tameem Antoniades, co-founder of Ninja Theory studios, if you drop the ball on the Devil May Cry franchise as Hayashi did with Gaiden, we are going to have some words, and you are going to walk away not liking me very much.
I am, let's face it, a Devil May Cry (DMC) junkie. Most people, if you ask them, prefer one over the other: Ninja Gaiden versus DMC. Not so much with me. I go through little spells where I think I prefer one over the other, but I always end up afraid of the commitment of actually choosing one over the other. I love Ninja Gaiden 2, for example...but then, dammit, you've got DMC3, arguably every bit as good. One thing you will never hear me say: that I have anything but love for both franchises.
So I have yet to align myself with all the whiny DMC fans out there complaining about how new Dante looks. Are you joking? So what? I admit old Dante looks cool, but...come on, is our enjoyment of the game contingent on how the guy looks? No. It's all about the combat. If the combat works from every angle - and I do mean every angle, from enemies to environments (all of which influence combat to a degree), the game will work...end of story.
So why am I concerned? Why even bother mentioning Hayashi's name in discussing the latest DMC game? Why mention Hayashi and Tameem in the same sentence? I have my reasons...wanna know what they are?
1. I'm hearing nothing but bullshit about an emphasis on story & presentation.
Ding ding ding!! That sets off my Bullshit Alarm quicker than President Obama uttering words. Why? Because the Epic Failure Ninja Gaiden 3 began much the same way: with that damn fool Hayashi coming out talking about how story had been neglected in the past and how now he was going to fix that for us.
These are action titles, folks. They do not require story. You are not going to improve an action title by dumping half the budget into story and presentation. You need tight combat with tight control. You need environments, enemies, and weapons that compliment the controls. You need scalable difficulty (for what that is, please check out Ninja Gaiden 2 on X360).
You can stick your freaking story in there if you must, but please...don't go overboard. Just give me a sword. (Rhyme.)
2. Much like Hayashi's bold new move with his failed title Ninja Gaiden 3, T.A. seeks to remove all the T&A from DMC.
See what I did there? Tameem's initials? Anybody? Oh, anyways - yes, a bit before NG3 dropped, I posted a piece from an article wherein Team Ninja Head and Intergalactic Fuck Up Yosuke Hayashi announced that he was tired of Team Ninja female characters looking like pinup girls. In fact, I'll repost it here:
"Similarly, Hayashi says Dead or Alive has traditionally been known for its Sports Illustrated-style presentation of women, “like a magazine for high school kids, with women portrayed in that sense. But that's not what we want.” He says the new game aims to “show something that's more high class,” saying he wants players to look at any given heroine and “be impressed with her as a woman, not just as a pin-up."
Ninja's Note: yes, he's talking about DOA, but it happened to NG3 as well. Further, the original interview discussed both games interchangeably.
Now I present an interview between some jerkoff and Tameem himself:
Question: "Have you binned all the character archetypes from earlier DMCs? Dare we say it, the massive tits?"
Tameem: "If it's true that the average console gamer is over 30 - which I totally believe - then you can't use those cheap tricks to titillate people into wanting to buy your game. I've nothing against big tits - I'd rather have my head resting on a pair right now - but if you're going to try and stimulate someone on different levels, there's better ways to do it. If you look at the stars in movies, the women people find really attractive are often not the ones with the biggest tits. You've got to be attractive on a different level.
We did that in Enslaved with Trip. People loved her, not because she had big breasts and high heels, but because she felt like someone who could be your girlfriend. That to me is more attractive than a prostitute walking around with a big gun. Not to demean prostitutes - it's a valid form of commerce."
A parallel worth worrying about? Fuck yes, if you want my opinion. At risk of repeating previous comments - it's not so much about the boobs as it is what they represent - indulgence. Pure, dumb indulgence. Video games are indulgence...no more, no less.
Based on the comments above, this guy strikes me as the kind of guy who pays the hooker and then gets upset when she gets up to leave. Guy, I'm never going to be that attracted to a video game character. Are you insane? People liked some character named "Trip" because she "felt like" someone who could be my girlfriend??
Am I the only one taking note of how goddamn crazy that sounds?? People don't feel anything at your goddamn fictional video game characters! THEY STARTED OUT AS WALKING BOOBS FOR A REASON: OTHERWISE, I WOULD PAY EVEN LESS ATTENTION TO THEM THEN I ALREADY DO.
3. This new town looks wayyy too much like Vigrid.
Vigrid, for those of you who require constant hand-holding, is the main town in which the game Bayonetta is set. See for yourself:
They kinda look like they could be down the street from one another, don't they? And - here's the kicker - I never really liked Vigrid. I liked many of Bayonetta's elements, but the environments were completely unengaging as far as I am concerned. And I felt the town of Vigrid was the worst offender of them all. Now, maybe one day I'll feel less sick of Vigrid as I do now...but guess what? When that day comes, I'll play some Bayonetta.
Many people felt that Bayonetta set some new bar for action/combat titles. I don't see it in the slightest; however, it's the truth. So on some level it makes sense that the makers of DmC would look to emulate Bayonetta as much as possible. Let's hope this one town is the beginning & the end of it.
4. Do there appear to be any technical or hardcore elements to this gameplay?
I'm going to risk sounding like I'm harping on Bayonetta here, but I'm really not: Bayonetta is a fantastic game with a lot going for it. Had the provided a game with a little more overall length to it, better boss battles, better enemies in general, and better environments, I'd count it right alongside DMC and Gaiden.
The truth is - Bayonetta is too easy. Enemies feel like paper dolls (do half of them even attack back?) and the bosses are completely unengaging. The combat itself is silky smooth and very reminiscent of the mechanics behind DMC...but there's a huge difference.
In Bayo, you can string unlimited air combos together with ease. There's no nuance or subtlety to it at all; once you know the moves themselves, you are a master and your air time is only limited by the fact that your enemies will eventually die. In other words - it took a month and I was a Bayonetta master. I can google "Bayonetta combo videos" and see the same shit that I was doing three weeks after the game dropped.
DMC is a completely different horse. I've logged probably close to a thousand hours between DMC3 and DMC4, and guess what? You give me google and ten seconds and I'll go find a video for you with shit I'll never be able to do in my wildest wettest fantasy. All things considered, I would rank myself a "skilled" DMC player: I'm good at Royal Guard but not great. I nail down the jump cancel and make my uber-impressive weapon-switching, style-switching air combo happen...about half the time. I'm still learning, and I'm still developing. I'm nowhere near a master. That's seven years on DMC3 and four years on DMC4, btw.
So, while the early footage of the new DmC certainly shows some variety...are there any of those technical elements, ie the jump cancel or royal guard reversal, that'll create even a minor learning curve for the technical, hardcore players? Because I haven't seen or heard a thing that leads me to believe DmC will be anything other than Bayonetta 2 as far as technical depth is concerned.
5. Much like unmasked Ryu came to bear an oh-so-slight resemblance to Hayashi, new Dante kinda looks like Tameem's hip nephew. Or: Tameem himself.
This is not me going back on what I said above: as a fan of Dante, I don't give a shit what they make him look like. However, as a humanoid who has learned to be very wary of the person who thinks his or her whims are more important than tradition, history, or the wishes of the fans, I do have to voice a small concern here:
Tameem, you probably wouldn't be receiving death threats had you opted to make Dante look like someone other than YOU. Seriously, people are (or at least they can be) kinda flexible. You're going to get a bit of an outcry no matter what when you take the trademark white hair and turn it black; that's a no-brainer. However, people would have gotten over it. Instead, though, you made him over in your own image, and guess what? Now people think the only reason you gave him a makeover to begin with is because you wanted an iconic, badass character walking around in the world out there looking just like you.
PS what's up with your shirt in that photo, Broseph Stalin? A little off-the-shoulder number there, eh? Well, I can't complain, I'm wearing...actually nevermind, I'm wearing pretty normal clothes right now. Sorry, I was looking to give you an out but now I can't: you look like you should be singing about how your friends are in the bathroom/getting higher than the Empire State...
___
TAMEEM: I implore you...don't fuck this up.
Tameem Antoniades, co-founder of Ninja Theory studios, if you drop the ball on the Devil May Cry franchise as Hayashi did with Gaiden, we are going to have some words, and you are going to walk away not liking me very much.
I am, let's face it, a Devil May Cry (DMC) junkie. Most people, if you ask them, prefer one over the other: Ninja Gaiden versus DMC. Not so much with me. I go through little spells where I think I prefer one over the other, but I always end up afraid of the commitment of actually choosing one over the other. I love Ninja Gaiden 2, for example...but then, dammit, you've got DMC3, arguably every bit as good. One thing you will never hear me say: that I have anything but love for both franchises.
So I have yet to align myself with all the whiny DMC fans out there complaining about how new Dante looks. Are you joking? So what? I admit old Dante looks cool, but...come on, is our enjoyment of the game contingent on how the guy looks? No. It's all about the combat. If the combat works from every angle - and I do mean every angle, from enemies to environments (all of which influence combat to a degree), the game will work...end of story.
Dante: old versus new. Quick question: who gives a shit?
So why am I concerned? Why even bother mentioning Hayashi's name in discussing the latest DMC game? Why mention Hayashi and Tameem in the same sentence? I have my reasons...wanna know what they are?
1. I'm hearing nothing but bullshit about an emphasis on story & presentation.
Ding ding ding!! That sets off my Bullshit Alarm quicker than President Obama uttering words. Why? Because the Epic Failure Ninja Gaiden 3 began much the same way: with that damn fool Hayashi coming out talking about how story had been neglected in the past and how now he was going to fix that for us.
These are action titles, folks. They do not require story. You are not going to improve an action title by dumping half the budget into story and presentation. You need tight combat with tight control. You need environments, enemies, and weapons that compliment the controls. You need scalable difficulty (for what that is, please check out Ninja Gaiden 2 on X360).
You can stick your freaking story in there if you must, but please...don't go overboard. Just give me a sword. (Rhyme.)
2. Much like Hayashi's bold new move with his failed title Ninja Gaiden 3, T.A. seeks to remove all the T&A from DMC.
See what I did there? Tameem's initials? Anybody? Oh, anyways - yes, a bit before NG3 dropped, I posted a piece from an article wherein Team Ninja Head and Intergalactic Fuck Up Yosuke Hayashi announced that he was tired of Team Ninja female characters looking like pinup girls. In fact, I'll repost it here:
"Similarly, Hayashi says Dead or Alive has traditionally been known for its Sports Illustrated-style presentation of women, “like a magazine for high school kids, with women portrayed in that sense. But that's not what we want.” He says the new game aims to “show something that's more high class,” saying he wants players to look at any given heroine and “be impressed with her as a woman, not just as a pin-up."
Ninja's Note: yes, he's talking about DOA, but it happened to NG3 as well. Further, the original interview discussed both games interchangeably.
Now I present an interview between some jerkoff and Tameem himself:
Question: "Have you binned all the character archetypes from earlier DMCs? Dare we say it, the massive tits?"
Tameem: "If it's true that the average console gamer is over 30 - which I totally believe - then you can't use those cheap tricks to titillate people into wanting to buy your game. I've nothing against big tits - I'd rather have my head resting on a pair right now - but if you're going to try and stimulate someone on different levels, there's better ways to do it. If you look at the stars in movies, the women people find really attractive are often not the ones with the biggest tits. You've got to be attractive on a different level.
We did that in Enslaved with Trip. People loved her, not because she had big breasts and high heels, but because she felt like someone who could be your girlfriend. That to me is more attractive than a prostitute walking around with a big gun. Not to demean prostitutes - it's a valid form of commerce."
A parallel worth worrying about? Fuck yes, if you want my opinion. At risk of repeating previous comments - it's not so much about the boobs as it is what they represent - indulgence. Pure, dumb indulgence. Video games are indulgence...no more, no less.
Based on the comments above, this guy strikes me as the kind of guy who pays the hooker and then gets upset when she gets up to leave. Guy, I'm never going to be that attracted to a video game character. Are you insane? People liked some character named "Trip" because she "felt like" someone who could be my girlfriend??
Am I the only one taking note of how goddamn crazy that sounds?? People don't feel anything at your goddamn fictional video game characters! THEY STARTED OUT AS WALKING BOOBS FOR A REASON: OTHERWISE, I WOULD PAY EVEN LESS ATTENTION TO THEM THEN I ALREADY DO.
3. This new town looks wayyy too much like Vigrid.
Vigrid, for those of you who require constant hand-holding, is the main town in which the game Bayonetta is set. See for yourself:
Here's a nice shot of Bayonetta herself doing something to some retarded enemy...
...and here's a shot of New Dante doing something to a group of retarded enemies.
They kinda look like they could be down the street from one another, don't they? And - here's the kicker - I never really liked Vigrid. I liked many of Bayonetta's elements, but the environments were completely unengaging as far as I am concerned. And I felt the town of Vigrid was the worst offender of them all. Now, maybe one day I'll feel less sick of Vigrid as I do now...but guess what? When that day comes, I'll play some Bayonetta.
Many people felt that Bayonetta set some new bar for action/combat titles. I don't see it in the slightest; however, it's the truth. So on some level it makes sense that the makers of DmC would look to emulate Bayonetta as much as possible. Let's hope this one town is the beginning & the end of it.
4. Do there appear to be any technical or hardcore elements to this gameplay?
I'm going to risk sounding like I'm harping on Bayonetta here, but I'm really not: Bayonetta is a fantastic game with a lot going for it. Had the provided a game with a little more overall length to it, better boss battles, better enemies in general, and better environments, I'd count it right alongside DMC and Gaiden.
The truth is - Bayonetta is too easy. Enemies feel like paper dolls (do half of them even attack back?) and the bosses are completely unengaging. The combat itself is silky smooth and very reminiscent of the mechanics behind DMC...but there's a huge difference.
In Bayo, you can string unlimited air combos together with ease. There's no nuance or subtlety to it at all; once you know the moves themselves, you are a master and your air time is only limited by the fact that your enemies will eventually die. In other words - it took a month and I was a Bayonetta master. I can google "Bayonetta combo videos" and see the same shit that I was doing three weeks after the game dropped.
DMC is a completely different horse. I've logged probably close to a thousand hours between DMC3 and DMC4, and guess what? You give me google and ten seconds and I'll go find a video for you with shit I'll never be able to do in my wildest wettest fantasy. All things considered, I would rank myself a "skilled" DMC player: I'm good at Royal Guard but not great. I nail down the jump cancel and make my uber-impressive weapon-switching, style-switching air combo happen...about half the time. I'm still learning, and I'm still developing. I'm nowhere near a master. That's seven years on DMC3 and four years on DMC4, btw.
So, while the early footage of the new DmC certainly shows some variety...are there any of those technical elements, ie the jump cancel or royal guard reversal, that'll create even a minor learning curve for the technical, hardcore players? Because I haven't seen or heard a thing that leads me to believe DmC will be anything other than Bayonetta 2 as far as technical depth is concerned.
5. Much like unmasked Ryu came to bear an oh-so-slight resemblance to Hayashi, new Dante kinda looks like Tameem's hip nephew. Or: Tameem himself.
Narcissism: it just works.
This is not me going back on what I said above: as a fan of Dante, I don't give a shit what they make him look like. However, as a humanoid who has learned to be very wary of the person who thinks his or her whims are more important than tradition, history, or the wishes of the fans, I do have to voice a small concern here:
Tameem, you probably wouldn't be receiving death threats had you opted to make Dante look like someone other than YOU. Seriously, people are (or at least they can be) kinda flexible. You're going to get a bit of an outcry no matter what when you take the trademark white hair and turn it black; that's a no-brainer. However, people would have gotten over it. Instead, though, you made him over in your own image, and guess what? Now people think the only reason you gave him a makeover to begin with is because you wanted an iconic, badass character walking around in the world out there looking just like you.
PS what's up with your shirt in that photo, Broseph Stalin? A little off-the-shoulder number there, eh? Well, I can't complain, I'm wearing...actually nevermind, I'm wearing pretty normal clothes right now. Sorry, I was looking to give you an out but now I can't: you look like you should be singing about how your friends are in the bathroom/getting higher than the Empire State...
___
TAMEEM: I implore you...don't fuck this up.
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