Topic: Dante's Inferno

[HyperSonicEXE]

WOOO! Now that's what I'm talking about!

The Dante's Inferno demo is great! There is still a strategy, and it's not Triangle, Square, Square, Square, Triangle, recite the Constitution, Triangle, Square.

You distance yourself from the enemy. You use the right attack that doesn't set you up to get wailed on by the next swarm of damned. And you have to know when to guard; you're a human, you can't just block a big-arse monster foot slamming down on you or hope to survive an elemental attack!

This I might actually get! And though it'll probably be a horrid retelling of the Divine Comedy itself (not like any of the details except now-ancient political figure stabs and literary allusions mattered, anyway), the fact that you're trudging through Hell might actually justify a 20-minute stage of walking rather than some castle (DMC) or a bunch of generic overworld (Bayonetta).

Thoughts!

[Da Dood]

Judging from the demo it's a very well done God of War clone, hopefully just like how Visceral's own Dead Space is an excellent Resident Evil 4 cousin. Best form of flattery and all that.

I won't bother analyzing the combat because I felt about it exactly how I feel about God of War's: it's about delivering a message without taking away from the adventure mood.

It looks like a fun ride. I like Death's Scythe in particular, how the grip bends and stretches like vertebrae.

[Pringer X]

I'll have to wait until Thursday/Friday to get the demo. It seems pretty cool, but hopefully there are other weapons you'll be able to use as well. Hacking around with Death's Scythe is fun and all, but depending on how long the game is, it can be kinda boring seeing the same combos you keep performing the entire time, even if you mix things up.

[HyperSonicEXE]

I'm pretty used to having only one weapon in my games (see: Z-Saber), so I'm content with just Death's Scythe.

I'll almost bet you'll be able to pick up other weapons or at least have enough variety in Combos and Spells to make up for it, though.

But man. Those holy spells take up a ton of Mana. That's nuts.

[Pringer X]

^Eh, the Zero games were fairly short enough that it didn't get too boring, they were just a wee bit longer than the usual X game, but then a game like DMC4 comes along, has a rather lengthily amount to it, and having to use Nero over 50% of the time and the combos literally just hitting the same button at different press speeds got REALLY annoying. In short, the shorter the game, the more acceptable it is for me to just use one weapon in a hack 'n slash, and conversely the longer it is, the more unacceptable.

How much does it take to use one? Was it just a basic spell, is there only one use for it? I'm hoping they 'copied' God of War 2 instead of 1 because I recalling only using Rage of the Gods TWICE in 1. It took SO incredibly long to fill the gauge up it almost wasn't worth it considering the amount of time you sank into it for the amount of time it lasted. At least Rage of the Titans lasted a wee bit longer and could be used on a more repeated basis, and hopefully that's what the mana system they're using in Dante's Inferno (I haven't downloaded the demo yet, but I will after I'm done with this wall o text).

EDIT: Ok, I see what you mean now with the mana.

I finally got the demo downloaded and I have to say, DAMN good God of War clone (no pun intended), but I can tell that the QTE are going to grate on me and wear me down to a stump The holy relic thing's kinda nice, and it's good to see that the defense breaker skill was lv. 1 which made it fairly easy to get. The whole system they have though for leveling up skills is somewhat messed up, since unless they put in enough enemies to just max out ONE side, it seems you can just spam the grab until you got both maxed out and climb up that way and not worry about that alignment thing unless it drastically affects something else in the game since it seems like there are very few Holy skills that are worth the effort while the Unholy ones get you some nice AoE attacks with the Scythe (and I can tell that this type of system has a high chance of eliminating a multiple weapon system). I did say seems though, since the twirl attack didn't do much to help considering the basic combo you start out with.

[HyperSonicEXE]

I'm really liking the combat. Then again, I think combo-interrupting Guarding is the way to go. Enemies are also littered throughout the stage (pretty much) rather than "enter room A, fight squad of enemies 1" like DMC and Bayonetta. Granted now there are sections of enemies like those games, but there are so many that it's hardly noticeable.

The QTEs...well, I kinda like 'em, and they'll more than likely be OHKO's later on in the game (this is Hell, after all), but that's because I don't play games that have them a lot (Resident Evil, Tomb Raider, etc.). So yeah, that can get kind of grinding, I'll bet.

Why not just design these action games like 3D platformers? No sections of enemies, just more or less free roam, but still make the enemy A.I. attack and/or spawn in groups. That's how I'd design mine, anyway (and take out rank so as to justify the existence of powerups and adjust for luck).

[Jericho]

Borrowing a quote from another thread for this one:

dante's inferno is just god of war, but on more than one horrible console.

See, I figured it was going to be something like this from the get go, and since I've never really been pulled by GoW, I guess I'm going to be wary/indifferent to Dante's Inferno. While I won't say that the GoW games are bad, I'll say that they don't have the same pull as the DMCs, Ninja Gaidens, or most recently Bayonetta. It's mainly because whenever I play games along the GoW path, they always seem to be more like interactive flash & bang movies with combat. The scenario, grandeur and "epic" feel are always played up, but the gameplay itself seems to be quite a bit more restrictive in just how much you can do differently.

[HyperSonicEXE]

And even then, your choices are lame.

Seriously, in the fight against Berial (DMC4) alone I could have thought of 4 different ways to dodge his attacks and at least 1 way per attack to parry with that arm, much less any other creative way of doing him in.

When Action games try to be flexible, it usually backfires or falls flat.

So for me, having a game with limited moves but simple inputs and ONE method of escaping damage is the better route.