[QUOTE="TalesofRaGnArOk"]

Based on the TCs grammar, I can faithfully say that he has not read the divine comedy (did not even state what the name of the "book" was)

This would lead me to believe that the TC has gotten all his resource material from wikipedia

And like God of War, Dante's Inferno is exploring a different side of Alighieri's poem - his quest to find Beatrice, but it also explores Dante's main theme - the medieval description of hell, which I think the game covers nicely

nhh18

To be fair, if you don't understand it, then you may as well have not read it to begin with.

But don't feel bad. He probably didn't truly read it either given that he says Dante's main theme was his depiction of hell... If you pay close attention to the dev diaries, you can hear the developers mention the tale of redemption, the tale of renewed faith. That is the actual main theme.

[QUOTE="horrowhip"]

Start to finish, including analysis/complete understanding of the poem? 3-4 people total....

PBSnipes

That's a slippy slope of a definition. I'd say the only person with "complete understanding" of the poem is Dante himself, and my guess is he isn't debating poly counts in Forza 3 vs. GT5. :P

Anyway, I agree with what you said earlier -- the key to the game is how well Viceral is able to portray the themes of the poem. If they can get that right, it doesn't matter if it's an FPS set in the year 4500 (after all, Joyce did alright with the whole Ulysses thing). That said, I can't help but feel that the game is going to be a simple God of War clone, and the title is just tacked on to help market the game.

fair enough...

But, I think they are doing fairly well at differentiating the game. It is similar to God of War, but is there really anything wrong with that? Not to mention, there isn't a whole lot that you can do with the Action genre anyway.... As for their storyline, they have the proper setup for the storyline(IMO). The question is just how well they execute on that setup... There is potential. And to me, that is enough at this point in time. The game is still pretty far from release, and they haven't shown that much, but what I have seen looks pretty good. So, I say keep an eye on it.

[QUOTE="Vandalvideo"][QUOTE="nhh18"] ]You just said how could they make divine comedy entertaining? It isn't loosely based on the divine comedy. Maybe 4 or 5 lines came from the book but besides that it is completely different to the book. Should the game be based more directly on the book rather than inspired by and steal its name?Kandlegoat

that's funny,because I seem to recall having Wallace and Gromit,as well as Sam and Max downloaded on my 360 harddrive.and I plan on Purchasing the Monkey island remake.. :roll:

You might. But the average person will not.

You have a terrible english class.pyromaniac223

No joke... But as I said before, the only thing butchering the Divine Comedy, is our modern educational system. There is no point in reading it if you don't discuss the themes of it... Plot and Storyline are only devices used by the Author to portray his/her ideas. Knowing the plot/storyline don't mean you know the book. All it means is that you can repeat what you read like a parrot. Until you can analyze and understand a books themes, you haven't actually learned anything about it.

nah. It was all about florentine politics. There weren't many themes. He mostly created the rings of hell to show his distaste toward the florentine politician. I think the christian religion and hell itself was a background.

nhh18

Inferno is just the first part of the story... There is later Purgatorio and Paradiso. Inferno made a lot of comments about Florentine politics. A LOT. But, if you want to talk about the Divine Comedy(like your original post suggested), the whole thing has very little to do with Florentine politics. It is focused primarily on the theme of spiritual renewal. How trials and difficulties in your life only reinforce your faith in God. Dante had been banished from the city he loved. He had lost his way, and he had lost faith in God. The Divine Comedy was his tale of how he fell into the deepest, darkest pits of hell, fallen completely away from God, and then emerged, renewed in his faith. THAT is the theme of the Divine Comedy. THAT is why he wrote the entire 3 part Epic Poem known as the Divine Comedy.

Understand?

[QUOTE="pyromaniac223"] most people in or past college have heard of it.Vandalvideo

Start to finish, including analysis/complete understanding of the poem? 3-4 people total....

And themes aren't the main reason why books are written. The plot, and storyline shouldn't be disregarded.

nhh18

Plot and storyline are only there to provide grounding and direction for the themes. Sure, they are important, and without the right plot/storyline, the entire thing falls apart, but if you want to analyze literature, ultimately, plot and storyline mean nothing to the effectiveness of the actual story. He could have written hundreds of different plots/storylines and achieved basically the same result(recognition as a classic). but ultimately, without the themes, without the ideas, the entire thing is worthless.

[QUOTE="foxhound_fox"]

Pieces of literature with political and philosophical themes normally don't translate well to games. They aren't doing the entire Divine Comedy, merely an interpretation of Inferno.

I'd like to know how many people on this board have even read a part of the Comedy... or even part of Inferno. Especially the TC.

nhh18

oh my god... What is even the point of reading it if you aren't going to explore the themes or reasoning behind why it was written? And it most certainly wasn't about Florentine politics. He made a lot of jabs at Florentine politics in Inferno, but the entire Divine Comedy most certainly was not about Florentine politics...

Pieces of literature with political and philosophical themes normally don't translate well to games. They aren't doing the entire Divine Comedy, merely an interpretation of Inferno.

I'd like to know how many people on this board have even read a part of the Comedy... or even part of Inferno. Especially the TC.

foxhound_fox

Same... And of the people who did read it, I would like to know how many actually understood what the entire purpose of the storyline was... Probably 3-4 people on this entire forum.

The important things about the Divine Comedy are not the execution or the literal storyline. The important things about it, are the themes, which are universal no matter who the character is portrayed as, or how the actual storyline is executed. What they are doing is taking the setting, and themes of the Divine Comedy and making an entertaining experience out of them.

The reason Dante made the Divine Comedy the way that he did was because he wanted to tell his story. He wanted to speak about how he had gone through trials and difficulties, fallen into the darkness of hell and then emerged, spiritually renewed... That is the most important theme of the Divine Comedy, spiritual rebirth. Ultimately, the path taken and his portrayal of the character are irrelevant to the theme. Visceral Games has actually come up with a brilliant substitute that not only provides a good avenue for exporing the theme of the storyline, but it also helps to set up the game as a fun, brutal action game. Having Dante be a crusader who did terrible things, and has drifted away from God is a brilliant adaptation. Because, ultimately, it provides a great way for them to tell the story of how his trials in Hell ultimately bring him closer to God and give him a spiritual rebirth.

Just because it doesn't follow the poem literally does not mean it is butchering it. The only thing butchering the Divine Comedy is our modern educational system which fails to teach its students that the actual storylines of the classic books they read are not the important parts of those books... The important parts of the Odyssey, the Iliad, the Divine Comedy, Metamorphosis, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and any of the hundreds of other classic novels/poems/stories that you could have read of the years, are the themes and ideas discussed, not the actual story that they used to portray those themes.

So, please, stop saying it is butchering the Divine Comedy. Because, just so long as it manages to deal with the same themes(which you can't know until you play through the entire game), it is perfectly fine as an adaptation....