Ninja Theory, the developer of Heavenly Sword, Enslaved and Capcom's Devil May Cry reboot, has said the team isn't pretending the game's Japanese-focused and won't apologise for it.
According to Antoniades the furore is the result of different expectations surrounding Western games. Jones elaborated by pointing out a distinction between the way characters are designed in Japan and in the west.
"Japanese style ethos does tend to involve making characters look cool for the sake of looking cool, adding odd accessories, crazy hairstyles and colour, cowboy boots and so on simply because they look cool/
"We in the West tend to be more functional adding things that have meaning and being able to explain that meaning. Why does Dante have white hair? I want to make a little story around that and explain it. And so on for the rest of his design choices."
Antoniades went on to explain the jumping off point for the design of Dante and DmC as a whole.
"We did a thought experiment [suggested by former Capcom exec Keiji Inafune] early on. It went like this: imagine this game as a contemporary movie. What would it look like? What would Dante look like? We went from there."
While the more Japanese aspects of the game haven't been completely ditched, the title will have more of a western flavour, owing to the Ninja Theory's influences.
"We've not so much done away with any of the Japanese aspects of the series," Antoniades continued "But are more building on the foundations of the franchise to develop a game that has a different flavour. We grew up on US and European movies, comics, music and general culture. That's what we're tapping into. We're not pretending we are Japanese nor making apologies for that."
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Comments
9 comments so far...
gillri on 26 Jan '12 said:
Well it would be stupid to pretend to be Japanese wouldnt it?
After playing Enslaved I am sort of excited to see what they can do for this franchise
zombiesinmyhead on 26 Jan '12 said:
It would look like a nasty tweenage film that I wasn't interested in, frankly, over-engineered by middle-aged men trying to be cool and edgy. And this defiant stance isn't fooling anyone. The recent charm offensive where they invited hardcore fans to try the combat system shows they're very worried about the reception its had so far.
I'll be keeping an eye on this. A clinical, mildly disdainful eye, but an eye nontheless.
JakeyBaby on 26 Jan '12 said:
Ninja Theory has no need to apologise to me. It's in the right hands if Enslaved is anything to go by, it's jumped from being 'oh god not another devil may cry' to 'yes please!' with the mere mention of two things - Reboot - and - Ninja Theory.
Tamoor on 26 Jan '12 said:
Personally I'm really looking forward to DmC. I loved Devil May Cry and Devil May Cry 3, but by the end of Devil May Cry 4 I couldn't stand Dante, or anyone else in the game for that matter.
I'm well up for a new interpretation of the character and Ninja Theory's one looks interesting.
zombiesinmyhead on 26 Jan '12 said:
I'm just very suspicious of Capcom at the moment. They used to be amazing, but last year their most successful property was Smurf's Village.
Smurf's Village.
And Dante's always been a bit of a douche, but Japanese douchiness is somehow quaint and forgivable, and adds to the apppeal. Western douchiness, well thats just plain douchiness. I can get that anywhere.
metallicorphan on 26 Jan '12 said:
you could see in the trailer for DmC that he started out with Black hair,but then in other parts of the trailer patches of white were coming through...he probably gets a big scare,like that kid in 'Stephen Kings IT' in the underground sewers when he see's what 'IT' really looks like,or a series of scares and then by the time his hair is completely white,he is fine with it (used to the horrors i mean)
When is this due?,because we also have the Devil May Cry HD collection on the 3rd April
Fr33Kye on 26 Jan '12 said:
Definitely a good call, no sense in trying to be something your not. Makes more sense to do it your own way.
WHERESMYMONKEY on 26 Jan '12 said:
well lets hope the contemporary western film they were loking at for inspiration was Sucker Punch. Most of the big fight scenes in that felt like something out of Devil May Cry.
I'm really looking forward to this i'm a big fan of the series. It might be a little bit different but its in good hands. If you don't believe me go and play Heavenly sword and Enslaved. The first shows they can do the kind of frantic combat thederies is known for really well and enslaved shows that not only will the environment make sense but that dante will finally have a bit of substance to him as well as style.
ladycroft142 on 29 Jan '12 said:
Why does Dante have white hair?
Uh it's called bleach you idiot! I sincerely hope they go back to old style DMC after this.