PS3 Dante's Inferno - Exclusive goods!

[Keero]

http://kotaku.com/5423290/ps3-scores-exclusive-dantes-inferno-divine-edition

The Dante's Inferno Divine Edition is the version all PlayStation 3 owners will be receiving once the game is released on February 9th, so there's no need to worry about changing over your preorders or making sure you don't get a gimped version accidentally. Whether they want it or not, they're getting it. What are they getting? On top of the game itself, the Divine Edition comes with developer commentaries, a Wayne Barlow digital art book, the game's soundtrack, and a digital copy of the complete Longfellow translation of Dante Alighieri's Inferno.

Outside from the moral content of the game, that's a sweet deal considering the 360 version doesn't get any of this. <3

 

[ewoksrule]

I think 360 gets it as well, they just pay more.

edit, I read more and perhaps not...oh well, wont be playing this anyways

 

[Tek7]

EEK! I clicked edit instead of quote! - blackgravity

TEK help me fix it

No worries, sir. I'll try to reconstruct my original post from memory.

Outside from the moral content of the game, that's a sweet deal considering the 360 version doesn't get any of this. <3

When you say "moral content," are you referring to the butchering and exploitation of a literary classic for financial gain or the naked ladies?

First Mario, then the Grand Theft Auto series, and now this. Italians just can't catch a break in video games, can they?

(I think that's how my original post went.)

 

[Omega Amen]

Makes sense since God of War III will come out a couple of months later. Considering some gameplay mechanics are practically copied from the God of War franchise, EA probably felt that some extra perks for PS3 owners would be necessary to entice them to buy this game.

I am not sympathetic to the opinion that they are unreasonably butchering the literature in designing their game. If they strictly followed the text, the game would be horrible. In fact, God of War takes far more liberties in Greek mythology than what I have seen so far for this game. I wager I can think of more examples of games taking liberty from literary sources.

However, they do seem... faithful (can't think of a better word right now) on the one aspect of Dante's epic that is the cause of its fame and interest: a vivid description of one man's imagining of Hell, in all of its gory, grotesque, disturbing, and depraved detail. Personally, it looks more tame than what I remembered reading during high school. And they simply designed their game around what is the most common expected goal among gamers when faced against such monstrosities: kill them.

I admit I am slightly curious about this game because it is made by Visceral Games (the Dead Space guys) and I want to compare their visual interpretation of the Hell setting with mine when I read parts of Dante's epic. But I think I will still skip it and play God of War III instead.

 

[Keero]

The whole Lust level that shows sexual organs on walls, or as enemies, Tek. o.o Never read the story actually.

And good point about the GoW thing, Omega. I too was interested in it since I found Dead Space to be surprisingly solid, but I'll wait for reviews on this one. :x

 

[Tek7]

My concern isn't with how "faithful" EA will be in creating an environment based on the epic poem. My concern is that the entire concept of the game is absurd.

Dante never fought anything in hell. One of the fundamental concepts of the poem was that Dante was allowed to travel through hell, purgatory, and into paradise by a divine mandate. The creatures of hell let him and Virgil pass unharmed because God's law reigned supreme, even in hell.

To illustrate just how ridiculous the concept of a musclebound 14th century Italian poet going toe-to-toe with Cerberus really is, maybe this film trailer will help provide a comparison.

Kratos defying the gods and violently ripping apart giant monsters? That sounds right in line with Greek mythology (though I admit I've only played brief sections of each game; I can't stand ultra-violent for the sake of ultra-violence).

Remember that Greek mythology was filled with stories of cruelty, murder, revenge, and other acts so unsavory that they should not be named on these forums. This is a mythology that featured a story where one character captured and cooked another character's children and then served those children as dinner to the parents.

Dante's journey through hell, on the other hand, was a guided tour rather than an epic battle. Basing a video game on Dante's Inferno makes about as much sense as basing a video game off violent encounters with your scuba instructor and zombie manta rays during your vacation to the Bahamas.

Dante facing off against a topless Cleopatra? That sounds like my palm hitting my face.

The game offends me on so many levels--as a student of classic literature, as a gamer, as a Christian, and as someone with Italian heritage--that I'm still in disbelief that enough people at EA thought this would be a good idea as to actually spend money--and lots of money--on making it.

Then I remember that it's EA and it all makes sense.

There is no other way to express my reaction to the Dante's Inferno game except:

/facepalm

 

[vibrokatana]

Basing a video game on Dante's Inferno makes about as much sense as basing a video game off violent encounters with your scuba instructor and zombie manta rays during your vacation to the Bahamas.

But what if our scuba instructor really is violent? And Steve Irwin succumbed to a zombie stingray... WE'RE ARE ALL DOOMED!!!1! /s

 

[Omega Amen]

Dante never fought anything in hell. One of the fundamental concepts of the poem was that Dante was allowed to travel through hell, purgatory, and into paradise by a divine mandate. The creatures of hell let him and Virgil pass unharmed because God's law reigned supreme, even in hell.

To illustrate just how ridiculous the concept of a musclebound 14th century Italian poet going toe-to-toe with Cerberus really is, maybe this film trailer will help provide a comparison.

Playing the game demo, they don't portray Dante as a poet. He is a knight from the Crusades. The only character they portray as a poet is Virgil. Also in the game, Dante is not going through Hell under a divine mandate; he just defeated Death who was about to send him to Hell as punishment for his sins. In this game, this isn't a guided tour.

So they are not working off of the same premise as the literature at all. Time, occupation, and motivation are all changed to create a setting for an able character to confront horrors in Hell. Maybe they should have named the character Joe instead, but after playing the demo, I doubt the main character being Dante will be the main complaint anyway.

Kratos defying the gods and violently ripping apart giant monsters? That sounds right in line with Greek mythology (though I admit I've only played brief sections of each game; I can't stand ultra-violent for the sake of ultra-violence).

I agree that God of War fits the tone of a lot of Greek mythology, but it takes as many liberties that are just as crazy as I described in the premise of the Inferno game.

For example, Kratos kills Ares, Athena, Persephone, Charon, Theseus, Perseus, and the Sisters of Fate. By killing the Fate sisters, he controls the loom of time to bring the Titans in the past into his present and starts a war with all of Olympus. Oh yeah, apparently, opening Pandora's Box makes Kratos big. And there is a lot more "butchering" of the source material than that.

Greek mythology pretty much falls apart in the God of War series. The mythology is used mainly as a source of inspiration for big, epic fight scenes. Since some of the original God of War developers went to Visceral Games a couple of years ago, they decided to use the same approach with Dante's poetry instead of Homer's poetry.

The game offends me on so many levels--as a student of classic literature, as a gamer, as a Christian, and as someone with Italian heritage--that I'm still in disbelief that enough people at EA thought this would be a good idea as to actually spend money--and lots of money--on making it.

Apparently, Dante's Inferno (the poem) is more meaningful to you than to me. To me, I view it as a person's grotesque imagining of Hell where famous contemporary figures of his time (and the past) are tortured, and which will not find any serious theological backing today. In other words, it is just a big piece of fiction, not a serious work reflecting the tenets of Christian doctrine and practice.

And as someone with Chinese heritage, I have seen game developers take absurd liberties on the greatest works of classic Chinese literature, like Romance of the Three Kingdoms (see Dynasty Warriors). However, I don't feel offended there. I guess I am just callous when it comes to works of fiction.

What has offended me are certain marketing efforts made by EA for this game. Such as the faked "outraged Christian" protest at E3, or the contest to win a night out with a booth girl under the theme of Lust, etc.

And the game demo felt too much of a mediocre clone of God of War to me. The execution in general feels lacking and shoddy in many areas. Joe's Inferno, it is.

 

[Tek7]

So they are not working off of the same premise as the literature at all. Time, occupation, and motivation are all changed to create a setting for an able character to confront horrors in Hell.

Fair enough.

...Still makes me facepalm, though. Do you really need to borrow a 700-year old epic poem to create an excuse to kill and main hundreds of random humanoids? Are video game developers that bereft of imagination?

I agree that God of War fits the tone of a lot of Greek mythology, but it takes as many liberties that are just as crazy as I described in the premise of the Inferno game.

For example, Kratos kills Ares, Athena, Persephone, Charon, Theseus, Perseus, and the Sisters of Fate. By killing the Fate sisters, he controls the loom of time to bring the Titans in the past into his present and starts a war with all of Olympus. Oh yeah, apparently, opening Pandora's Box makes Kratos big. And there is a lot more "butchering" of the source material than that.

Also /facepalm.

I wasn't aware of the extent or severity of the butchering since I'd only played about 30 minutes of each game (couldn't stomach more than that), but I can't say I'm surprised.

Apparently, Dante's Inferno (the poem) is more meaningful to you than to me. To me, I view it as a person's grotesque imagining of Hell where famous contemporary figures of his time (and the past) are tortured, and which will not find any serious theological backing today. In other words, it is just a big piece of fiction, not a serious work reflecting the tenets of Christian doctrine and practice.

The Divine Comedy "not a serious work"? I have to admit, it made me cringe to read that. Dante's works are widely considered literary masterpieces and essential reading for students of literature. Even if you don't like The Inferno or the works that follow, the works themselves are still vitally important to Western literature.

And as someone with Chinese heritage, I have seen game developers take absurd liberties on the greatest works of classic Chinese literature, like Romance of the Three Kingdoms (see Dynasty Warriors). However, I don't feel offended there. I guess I am just callous when it comes to works of fiction.

And most people are. I admit the possibility that my "literature nerd" side is more passionate than my "video game nerd" side, especially when it comes to disgust with the butchering of classic works.

What has offended me are certain marketing efforts made by EA for this game. Such as the faked "outraged Christian" protest at E3, or the contest to win a night out with a booth girl under the theme of Lust, etc.

I think the general consensus is that EA is evil. The only question is if EA is more evil than Activision.

And the game demo felt too much of a mediocre clone of God of War to me. The execution in general feels lacking and shoddy in many areas. Joe's Inferno, it is.

Joe's Inferno. I like it.

And the brief bit of demo gameplay I saw was enough to label the game as a "lolclone" of GoW. It seems like gamers would be better served to skip the video game Inferno, pick up a copy of the poem translated into English, and play a Devil May Cry game between Cantos.

 

[Omega Amen]

...Still makes me facepalm, though. Do you really need to borrow a 700-year old epic poem to create an excuse to kill and main hundreds of random humanoids? Are video game developers that bereft of imagination?

Well, in this video game genre, fighting through Hell is expected now. In Devil May Cry, Dante fights a portion of Hell. In Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, Ryu fights through Hell. Kratos fought his way out of Hell a total of three times (so far).

So why not go through the best and most imaginative description of Hell in literature? (That is a rhetorical question.)

The Divine Comedy "not a serious work"? I have to admit, it made me cringe to read that. Dante's works are widely considered literary masterpieces and essential reading for students of literature. Even if you don't like The Inferno or the works that follow, the works themselves are still vitally important to Western literature.

You misinterpreted by initial statement.

I agree that The Divine Comedy is a serious work as a literary masterpiece, and that is vitally important to anyone who wants to study Western literature.

I said it is not a serious work when it comes to Christian doctrine and practice. That is, it is not comparable to works like Augustine's City of God or Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion.

And I do like The Divine Comedy. It is just that Paradise Lost completely pwns it.


If anything, the demo did make me want to wait for the new Castlevania game that Kojima is overseeing. That game might turn out to be a more creative and well-though out beat-em-up game with the same gothic atmosphere that this Inferno game is striving.

 

[Tek7]

Well, in this video game genre, fighting through Hell is expected now. In Devil May Cry, Dante fights a portion of Hell. In Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, Ryu fights through Hell. Kratos fought his way out of Hell a total of three times (so far).

So why not go through the best and most imaginative description of Hell in literature? (That is a rhetorical question.)

Good point.

I still wish they'd leave classic literature alone, though. I can't quite place my finger on it, but I'm less upset about game creators mish-mashing mythology than classic literature.

You misinterpreted by initial statement.

I agree that The Divine Comedy is a serious work as a literary masterpiece, and that is vitally important to anyone who wants to study Western literature.

I said it is not a serious work when it comes to Christian doctrine and practice. That is, it is not comparable to works like Augustine's City of God or Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion.

Ahhh~ okay. Gotcha. No worries then.

If anything, the demo did make me want to wait for the new Castlevania game that Kojima is overseeing. That game might turn out to be a more creative and well-though out beat-em-up game with the same gothic atmosphere that this Inferno game is striving.

I'm always ready for a new Castlevania game. Order of Ecclesia was a lot of fun, but I'd be interested in seeing something that breaks away from the ol' Symphony of the Night "Metroidvania" formula.

Of course, I'd also be thrilled if Nintendo would just develop a 2.5D (low-res 3D character models on a 2D plane, like they did with New Super Mario Bros.) Metroid DS game already.