IGN's Dragon's Crown Week was done in a Series of Videos which I cannot embed here, and I truthfully haven't watched them for fear of spoilers, but here's the links for anyone who is interested!
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Explore the Six Character Classes
Dragon Crown's Loot and Equipment Systems, Fully Explained
Exploring the World of PS3 and Vita's Dragon Crown
The Enemies and Bosses of Dragon's Crown
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Why does this have so much more hype than Muramasa? Because of the sexism accusations, or because this isn't a Wii exclusive?
Nah. The Sexism accusations probably lasted only about a week or two, tops. They were highly publicized at first but died out quick once the "mountain" wasn't even revealed to be a "molehill" but an anthill at best.
If you watch the videos, see the care put into the art, the Loot System and the different character play styles, you start to see it as a incredibly well constructed, late generation, kick-ass culmination of all beat-em-up / adventure games that came before it.
To me, it --REALLY-- looks like an homage to the side-scrolling brawlers of the 90's done up in grande 2013 style!
phantom_leo said:Nah. The Sexism accusations probably lasted only about a week or two, tops. They were highly publicized at first but died out quick once the "mountain" wasn't even revealed to be a "molehill" but an anthill at best.
If you watch the videos, see the care put into the art, the Loot System and the different character play styles, you start to see it as a incredibly well constructed, late generation, kick-ass culmination of all beat-em-up / adventure games that came before it.
To me, it --REALLY-- looks like an homage to the side-scrolling brawlers of the 90's done up in grande 2013 style!
I dunno, once the hysteria died down there was a constant drip stream of articles based around the fact that despite the accusations of sexism, it's actually an awesome game. Those would never have been written without the sexism hype, and lasted at least a month if not longer.
The art is no better than Muramasa (for which there was no enthusiasm for whatsoever becuase it wasn't HD), and the gameplay sounds no more advanced than Odin Sphere. Muramasa was simpler than Odin Sphere right? It can't just be the game itself.
It's a niche, Japanese RPG. Everyone hates those now, whether they suffer from the problems everyone hates about JRPGs, or not. It's definitely getting way more coverage from mainstream sites than you would expect, even if it is an amazing game.
To me, it always looked like an awesome game. I started a topic on it two years(+) ago that's referenced in the beginning of --THIS-- topic. The Press probably did just what I did: Used the "drama" as a hook to get people's attention, but once people started to scrutinize it looking for more stuff to get up in arms about, they realized "Hey! This game is actually GOOD!" and then the game took over and carried itself on its own merits.
Watch the videos. It's ---NOT--- a niche Japanese RPG at all. It's like a Heavy Metal Golden Axe Loot Game with Awesome Animation...
...Games like Golden Axe, Final Fight and a lot of the classic Capcom Fighters are still held in very high regards these days, it's just that most developers are too lazy to find ways to keep them compelling. The whole "Loot" system and the diverse character play styles are just about what this old genre needed to be revived in style!
Who doesn't have fond memories of playing Golden Axe again and again as a kid?
Who doesn't secretly root for the guys trying to do that Streets of Rage Revival game despite Sega knocking them down every few years?
People still like these types of games!
One on One Fighters had their revival!
It's time for the Side-Scrolling Brawler to return!
phantom_leo said:Watch the videos. It's ---NOT--- a niche Japanese RPG at all. It's like a Heavy Metal Golden Axe Loot Game with Awesome Animation...
...Games like Golden Axe, Final Fight and a lot of the classic Capcom Fighters are still held in very high regards these days, it's just that most developers are too lazy to find ways to keep them compelling. The whole "Loot" system and the diverse character play styles are just about what this old genre needed to be revived in style!
I have watched the videos, and it's a niche JRPG, just as Muramasa and Odin Sphere both were as well. Just because it's a JRPG and niche doesn't mean it can't have a complex battle system with other side things to make it compelling such as a loot system and diverse character play styles (both of which Odin Sphere did in no simpler way than Dragon's Crown; well, maybe the loot, but it had alchemy and cooking). The very fact that it contains these things make it a niche JRPG; if it wasn't a niche JRPG then it wouldn't have those things and would be like Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest; or if it was just the combat, then it would be a beat 'em up...but it does have those things, so it is an action JRPG.
Odin Sphere's combat is infinitely superior to Golden Axe's, but that doesn't mean that it can't be a JRPG.
You seem to be misunderstanding what I'm saying. I am not criticising the game; how could I when it's not even out yet? I am asking why is it receiving so much more hype than Muramasa which followed the critically lauded Odin Sphere and is in no way behind Odin Sphere or Dragon's Crown in terms of presentation. I say Muramasa was presumably less complex than Odin Sphere simply because it was half the length; it still had more to it than just being a beat 'em up or RPG (which it was, just like Odin Sphere and Dragon's Crown are)---but I haven't played it, so can't comment with much conviction, and didn't get to know much about the game because it didn't receive anywhere near the same level of hype.
On the other hand, Dragon's Crown is following Muramasa; a game that got a lukewarm reception, and was largely ignored---especially when it came to the presentation. Yet got some huge scores from outlets that gave it hardly any coverage at all. Obviously something doesn't make sense here; there must be other factors than just the game that has affected the coverage of both titles. And hey, look, there are. Does it deserve the coverage it's getting? Of course, I'm not disputing that, nor implying that you're covering it due to the sexism hype. But would it have got the same mainstream coverage if Muramasa had been first released as an HD title, and there had been no sexism controversy? I find that very hard to believe.
I'm not arguing anything either. I'm just excited and not explaining myself very well, apparently.
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I will say a few things though in response to what you are saying though, to clarify things for myself. Muramasa may not have gotten much hype in the beginning, but it got to be a critcal darling in the long run. It may not have gotten a lot of advertising, but, at least in the US, the packaging sports a "Best of E3" sticker on it, meaning it caught a few website's editor's eyes at the show where it was first introduced. It also got a TON of reviews (58 on Metacritic, at least). Compare it to an average Wii game and you'll see it got much more attention than most give it credit for. I think it's OK to call it a cult classic.
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For years and years there has been rumblings amongst the Virtual Console/Retro Gamers for a revival or release of the Capcom Dungeons and Dragons arcade games. They were put out on a collection for the Saturn (I think) and in Japan only, but gamers all over the rest of the world were dying to get their hands on them...
Would you call Towers of Doom and Shadow over Mystara RPG's also? You have fantasy characters, they have some spells and equipment... but they play like Golden Axe or Final Fight.
I think the popularity of DC has less to do with being the follow up to Muramasa than it being the spiritual successor to Doom and Mystara. Comparing it to those games which are more of the Side-Scrolling Brawler type than the fantasy JRPG type and (in my eyes at least) people WANTING a good side-scrolling brawler... People are tired of the old Final Fantasy like "Attack, Spell, Item" RPGs, but they are not adverse to Action or Adventure games with RPG elements in them...
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I think the popularity of DC is MOSTLY due to it being a very late generation PS3 game; there's not much left to talk about when it comes to PS3. It's getting more attention because it's a pretty game standing in a barren field of game releases... But it's also a Brawler of the type people miss and haven't had a good example of in a while... and, yeah, I think, in a small way, people WANT to see Kamitani get the attention he deserves (and not for being a sexist)... Muramasa was a well loved game by a handful of people and editors, but it never achieved anything more than "Cult" status. I think people are just hyping and hoping for this to be the game that puts Kamitani and VanillaWare on the map. I, for one, hope this is true because I will always love pixel art as opposed to pretty much anything else and don't want to see it die out.
**I don't know if this made this more clear or murky, but I just wanted to explain myself better.**
The high praise and many reviews is one of the reasons the lack of hype for Muramasa was so strange! (Oh hey, let's all ignore this game...let's give it a high score then never mention it again!)
Towers of Doom? Shadow over Mysteria? You need to educate me on what those are... 
Anyway, it's just the fantasy characters. It's the length, the levelling system, the looting, etc. etc.. Odin Sphere was an action JRPG for the same reasons, and so was Muramasa. I don't think it's just me calling it an RPG, and both Muramasa and Odin Sphere were always referred to as RPGs in everything I read about them, and I'm playing Odin Sphere and it's an RPG to me. Wikipedia lists it as an action RPG as well...as well as calling it a beat 'em up. I'm happy to consider it as both!
Agreed that it being late PS3 game definitely contributes.
And I'm looking forward to it too. Odin Sphere is about 5 times longer than it should be, and only one character is well balanced, but the base combat and the RPG systems in it are just so God damn good that I'm really interested in this even though I don't like the character designs; the animation is incredible, though.
On another note, have you played Odin Sphere as well as Muramasa?
This will be another example of "What came first, the chicken or the egg?" but it's not at all coincidental that The D&D Mystara Collection came out recently. Don't know if it was done TO hype Dragon's Crown. Don't know if they were released now THANKS TO the hype for Dragon's Crown. Don't know if it was a "Happy Accident" and both just fed off of each other. I highly doubt Capcom and Atlus have a collaboration going on. Yeah, the games both share Kamitani in common, but the profits will go to either of the Publishers. That Mystara is going to pretty much EVERY platform, including Wii U, shows a pretty good confidence in the Publisher knowing what people want and trying to get it to as many markets as possible.
Edit: We can't embed videos still, as far as I know, so I linked the MetaCritic reviews in this post. The Capcom D&D games were pretty much the LAST in the series of Capcom's 1990's Brawlers that started with Final Fight and included such games as Alien vs. Predator, Knights of the Round, The Punisher, Captain Commando and Cadillacs and Dinosaurs. They were just BELOVED games in their time and people still long for their genre's revival to this day. DC could be just that!
I did play a good amount of Odin Sphere and --ALL-- of Muramasa. I LOVED Muramasa. The slow-down of Odin Sphere always killed it for me, but I have it on PSN and have started it and re-started it numerous times. I'd like to finish it one day.
...and for the record. I made the connection between the D&D games and Dragon's Crown two years ago, before any of the Controversy, before it came to light earlier this year... Proof is in the link on the first page of this topic! I even pat myself on the back in that topic for making the connection!
Edit: See the 'Jumping on the Bandwagon' comment on 4/28.
This just in: Cooking confirmed! Kamitaminization is complete!
The slow down makes some parts of the game unplayable. 
I had to lower the difficulty on some sections in Titania because each time I hit a large group of enemies, the game pretty much froze froze for a second or so, and post-freeze I was all but dead. And that's if I managed to hit them due to timing being impossible at such a low FPS rate.
When you go back to it, bear in mind you are basically playing through the same game 5 times in a row with characters that are not as well designed as Gwendolyn so it gets incredibly tedious. That's something that worries me about Dragon's Crown with the multiple characters, actually. Muramasa was just one, right? Did it repeat any areas or bosses? If not I really need to get it some day.
Muramasa had two playable characters. They played very similarly, except for the fact that they had two different sword sets they could forge. The swords, their range, attacks and special attacks were what made the game that much better though! I didn't find it tedious and they had different (phenomenal) bosses they fought!
phantom_leo said:Muramasa had two playable characters. They played very similarly, except for the fact that they had two different sword sets they could forge. The swords, their range, attacks and special attacks were what made the game that much better though! I didn't find it tedious and they had different (phenomenal) bosses they fought!
2 wouldn't get too repetitious at all! Especially if the bosses differ. The bosses in Odin Sphere are repeated ad nauseum, generally with no difference.
George Kamitani has been dreaming of making Dragon's Crown for a looong time...
Want proof? Here's concept art from the DREAMCAST version of the game! 
New details from the final, playable version:
"Dragon’s Crown will tote both English and Japanese voice acting, that each of the six playable character classes will have five outfit options, and that the names of each character, while randomly-generated at first, can be changed by the player as well."
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