I think its paying homage. To rip something off to me means you take every aspect of other games barley change anything and basically repackage it.

I'm a firm believer that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Creators are influenced by countless sources, whether they're even aware of it or not.

The key is that you need to add something new to the equation, whether it is a fresh perspective, a unique twist, or simply a strong story. We inevitably stand upon the shoulders of giants, but we cannot rely solely upon that foundation as we reach for the stars.

The question of "homage or rip-off" is not so black-and-white, either. I believe all games are, by and large, a product of both, whether it's intentional or not.

game making is taking things that worked from other games and incorporating new ideas with it

Darksiders is definitely homage. Vigil Games has a lot of respect for the games it takes inspiration from, especially Zelda. And besides, there are so few original games nowadays, I'm not sure it really matters anymore.

A lot of games try to "rip-off" ideas but they fail to execute them. Darksiders executes and make the game greater then its individual parts

I think it's paying homage. It's ripping off when you basically take all of the game mechanics from one game and give it a new name, new characters, and leave it at that. Darksiders takes things the creators love and put it into a package that while failiar, still is a different game.

It's defenitley a homage. Or for me it's like a gamers dream come true. Darksiders II took everything I love in video games and put all in one beautiful 60 dollar package. I don't understand why people can't enjoy the what is a brilliant game without saying "oh this is such a rip off. Why would a play this?" The game uses a bunch of other games ideas, yes. But it is so damn fun! Why can't gamers just have fun?

Everything comes from an idea and that idea can be improved countless time until its perfect so if Darksiders is taking ideas from other games to make a masterpiece I dont see problem.

Darksiders 2 is one of the funnest games I have played in a long time, but I feel it has a blatant disregard for originality. Of course they can do this if they want to, especially if they use the various influences/ gameplay elements well (like darksiders 2).Its ok to pay homage to the games that heavily influenced you, but it's no way to leave your mark in gaming history. God of War, Diablo, Zelda, and Prince of Persia will continue to be the footholds for what a fantastic game is, but the Darksider series fails to go higher.

It depends on if you see something specific in the game and think "That kind of looks or reminds me of Zelda" versus "Wow, I think they took that straight from Zelda". I wouldn't say that Darksiders is a rip-off of anything, just an accumulation of good ideas that worked from largely successful franchises. You can't expect a developer to reinvent the wheel each time. Now, if Darksiders had you use a hookshot and enter a Water Temple, and then Deckard Cain appears, you can call it a rip-off.

Some of the things I consider ripping off... for example some aspects in the temples like they key system is literally a carbon copy of zelda key system with some fresh paint. But I felt like Darksiders 2 was pretty original

If it's a good game, then I don't care.

atleast the devs are acknowledging it, plus its a great game, so it does those other games justice

Darksiders is paying homage to great games, its using great ideas from games to make its gameplay fun and exciting, while still keeping it unique. Plus the story is completly unique.

I don't think that Darksiders is ripping other games off per se, but I still don't like it. We need innovation and originality in this industry now more than ever, and there are very very few IPs willing to try something new, so if we ever want to see original games, whatever Darksiders is doing needs to stop.

Here's my take on this, at least as far as Darksiders 2 is concerned:
To begin with, the developers were very upfront about taking the Zelda template and wanting to use it in a more mature setting. In my opinion they did it with great results, but War's adventure did feel very much like one that Link has been on a dozen times but with the attitude of a malicious Kratos. The first Darksiders straddled that homage/rip-off in a way that Darksiders 2 hasn't in my 10 hours of play.

If Vigil set out to make another 8 dungeon crawl with action elements again, then it would warrant being in the rip-off column. Yes, you can still pick out which mechanics came from which storied franchise (the rescued traversal from Prince of Persia 2008 stands out a lot), but these "stolen" mechanics aren't there for the sake of being a bullet point. It all makes sense when stirred in the melting pot together. Traversal is a dream compared to the first DS. The hooks of gear dropping from enemies and filling out a skill tree as you progress dangles that amazing carrot to keep playing and exploring the vast world. Oh yeah, the mini dungeons scattered throughout the world also makes exploration a reward in itself. In fact the "seamless dungeon/world" idea from Skyward Sword may be pulled off a little better here.

I guess what I'm getting at is while a game may be labeled as a copier, it will never be ripping off an idea if it is implemented in a way that makes sense and elevates the overall experience into something all its own, just like I believe Darksiders 2 is doing in its cauldron of great ideas.

I think calling a game a rip off is a slippery slope that usually leads into pedantic and ultimately pointless arguments full of comments like how "every open world game is just Zelda!" or "its basically just Diablo....which is also just Zelda!"

That said, there are a few games that I find to be a specific story and art style simply layered over the exact gameplay mechanics of other popular games. What most comes to mind for me is Castlevania: Lords of the Shadow. For me, that game was such a shameless graft that Konami shoudl have been embarrassed. It was like Mercury Steam threw their hands up and said, "we have this cool art style and story but we're not interested in actually developing a new game." It was so much like God of War in combat, game mechanics, and boss fights that it had no personality of its own and it really didn't feel like castlevania at all and that is detrimental.

these days everyone is ripping off everyone, some in a good way and some in a bad way. as long as it is good, i guess it doesnt matter.

How many truly original ideas are out there nowadays?

The way I see it, as long as it's not so unoriginal that I grow tired of it, I will thoroughly enjoy playing it, homage or ripoff.

homeage , and theres nothing wrong with that cause its saying they ( the devs) liked said games enough to wanna make similar things.if it were a rip-off then it would have the same mechanics ,and storylines with just different names and what not .