Jimquisition: Too Cool To Be Cool

LobsterFeng

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The thing about Sonic was surprisingly good, because it's true. I didn't really understand anything else that you were getting at though.
 

dunnace

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Did you play Bulletstorm? It was almost anticipating the return of Duke and parodied the fuck out of the "too cool to be cool" character. Many dismiss Greyson as simply a "generic bad-ass space marine" but frankly in the games he's the only person who thinks he is cool. Everyone else thinks he's the dick he definitely is, and rather than being the god of his world he often causes catastrophic fuck ups based on his rash and indefensible behaviour. Bulletstorm, despite being a comedy at heart, is also quite a strong piece of character satire.
 

Fearzone

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Dec 3, 2008
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Glad to see the series has started to return to what it was before on Destructoid, and people are starting to catch on that Jim has a lot of good points to make, whatever his presentation may be. I like the irony jokes of this one. I missed the disgusted cursing at gaming fools, and I miss throwing the microphone at the end.
 

cainx10a

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Littaly said:
People take Duke Nukem seriously? God, I hope not o_O

Maybe in they idolize him in an ironic sense, but I can't see people actually thinking he's the ideal man. I've always thought it was an exaggeration for lame laughs, kind of like Chuck Norris, where the joke consists in how straight faced it is and how far people take if. I really hope I'm not wrong about that...
Beautifully said. I don't need a self-conscious duke who's aware of his 'faults' according to some feminazi in an alternate dimension. Duke is over the top ... to the extreme. And there are almost no character like him in video games (Think, Gordon Freeman, and the rest who all happen to have had some form of military training, and roots in cliche (-cough- "Hello, My name is Inigo Montaya, and you killed my father's sheep. I am here to get the sheep skin. Prepare to ... barf!"). Almost all of the rest, are down to earth with a little extra that set them apart from the rest of the inhabitants of their world. Like regenerative health.

Sonic, why do they even bother with him? Let him die, create a new character, a new game.
 

brick

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Apr 14, 2009
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Think Jim has missed the point of the DUKE here a bit, I think it's not meant to be indicated as a joke at all, but how serious and OTT it is is infact what makes it so hilarious? The serious sam guy was indicated to be stupid, therefore taking some of the humour away? Kinda agree about Sonic, maybe just leave him as a mute character that is just there for some old school speed platforming. IMO anyone that thinks DUKE is a serious protagonist is looking at it too seriously and needs to have another go at the game with a DUKE mentality.
 

C2Ultima

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Nov 6, 2010
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Pretty true with Sonic there, but the recent games seem to be so bad, that the lame state of the character isn't noticed that much.
 

Venereus

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PoweD said:
Totally agree, we need a life in the shitter sonic.
Can somebody explain whats with the black lines on the background?
He just explained it! It's from V for Vendetta:
 

Waaghpowa

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Apr 13, 2010
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cainx10a said:
Littaly said:
People take Duke Nukem seriously? God, I hope not o_O

Maybe in they idolize him in an ironic sense, but I can't see people actually thinking he's the ideal man. I've always thought it was an exaggeration for lame laughs, kind of like Chuck Norris, where the joke consists in how straight faced it is and how far people take if. I really hope I'm not wrong about that...
Beautifully said. I don't need a self-conscious duke who's aware of his 'faults' according to some feminazi in a alternate dimension. Duke is over the top ... to the extreme. And there are almost no character like him in video game. Almost all of the rest, are down to earth with a little extra that set them apart from the rest of the inhabitants of their world. Like regenerative health.

Sonic, why do they even bother with him? Let him die, create a new character, a new game.
CINN4M0N said:
I disagree, Jim, I think you're missing the point of Duke.

His jokes are supposed to be shit, but he's still not supposed to be called out for it or portrayed as unfunny or less cool because of it. He's meant to still be idolised in his world, which makes the joke funny for us outsiders looking in. We don't idolise Duke, we laugh at him and the morons in his universe for still idolising him, and get to feel kinda badass that that's our character.

We go into the game already knowing that he's a total doofus. If the game took the time to tell us this, it would lose some of its impact. We just accept the world as silly and fun, and love it for that.

Also, just because Sam Stone was made out clearly to be an idiot, doesn't mean Duke has to be. I'm all for games varying from one another, otherwise they bleed into a one flavour formula that never does anything different.

In an age where "realism" is becoming more and more predominant, some games just need to get more and more outrageous to be pure fun. I don't play games to see my character do something I can do in real life, I wanna see him curbstomp,punch through heads, and have a three-way with a school twins.

And I've never played Devil May Cry, but it seems like a whole nother kettle of fish. Sounds like a serious drama, where Duke is a light-hearted comedy. You're not supposed to read into anything too much.
Basically what they said, Duke is supposed to be idolized within his own world, which to US is funny. That and Duke is essentially a parody of just about every Macho man persona depicted in TV and movies.
 

yellowhead

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Nov 18, 2009
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I'm trying to give this series a chance, but Jim has completely missed the point of Duke Nukem.

Duke has NEVER been a serious character. He's a B-Movie star. A steriotype of 80/90s action movies like Arnie, Stallone etc. but pushed to the nth degree. It's all tongue in cheek and at no point are we supposed to take it seriously. We're supposed to enjoy the ride.

Also, i half agree about the Sonic argument. Sonic DOES cool stuff and he does awesome and stylish moves. The problem is when he opens his mouth. That's why i love Super Sonic because he hardly talks in that form and does awesome stuff.
 

NoeL

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Am I alone here? I never felt Duke was intended to be taken seriously, but more of a tribute to/parody of 80s action heroes. It's not that he should be idolised or considered "cool" in any way, but simply be thoroughly entertaining with his completely over-the-top badassery. It's the same kind of appeal as making a villain a playable character - you get to have fun blowing crap up without any sense of duty.

I agree that Sonic is put out there as a "cool" character, but I always felt Duke was so ridiculous it wouldn't need to be spelled out with dopey jokes in order for the audience to get it. I think playing it straight edge works in Duke's favour, rather than against it.

EDIT: Seems I'm not alone. A lot can happen while you're writing a response :p
 

MB202

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Jim sure likes to call out his nay-sayers.

As to the actual subject matter, it's nice to see what people view as "cool", and how it changes as time goes on.
 

lord.jeff

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No one takes Duke seriously, I think it's you and maybe a few other idiots, but that being said you do have a good point with Sonic and Dante was a prime example of how to explain yourself. Also this was a generally funny episode.
 

Zabriskie Point

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Nov 22, 2010
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I don't think I've met a single person who actually takes Duke seriously. Gearbox definitely doesn't. I mean, come on, you can throw literal shit in the game. You can pick up turds and throw them. That may be the least serious game mechanic I've ever seen.
 

Ranorak

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Feb 17, 2010
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I liked the episode, but I can't help but disagree.
In my opinion, Duke isn't taken seriously.

He's so over the top macho that he IS a parody.

But that is just my opinion.
 

ShenCS

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Aug 24, 2010
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Throughout the whole first half I was constantly muttering "DanteDanteDanteDanteDanteDante". Almost cheered when he put the spotlight on the right character. But I would disagree that Duke is being played straight. The game being all about "his world" was misinterpreted here I feel. It's all about his ego, he plays everything straight because he honestly thinks he's that awesome, which makes him ironic because we know how dated he is.
 

StrangerQ

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I found episode amusing and seeing show getting better and better every week.
I loved the ending :p

On more serious things.
Sonic analysing and dante as example on parody coolness were great.
I was not able to phrase anything special about DN stuff since i find both agreeing and disagreeing sides right but i find nothing to complaing when
people do shows about own opinion on subject whether fact is truth or not.
 

beniki

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May 28, 2009
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I kind of thought that the muscle head, over the top, all singing, all dancing, all fucking, egomaniac being played straight WAS the joke...
 

EternalFacepalm

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While I do agree with Sonic (I haven't really touched any late Sonic-games though), you completely missed the point of Duke. Nonetheless, good episode. The series is getting better.
 

Naeras

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In all honesty, Duke Nukem Forever still portrays Duke far too over the top for him to be anything but a straight-out satire. And that's what makes the character cool. I mean, how seriously can you take a character who instead of a rechargable shield/health bar has an ego so strong that it protects him from damage and needs to be recharged from time to time? He's intended as a joke, and even if he wasn't, he'd still be funny because he's so ridiculous.


Also, Jim, I'm going to out-hipster you and say that your attempts on douchebaggery are far from subtle enough to actually be funny. It's like, so mainstream. Work on them, as they are now they just make me facepalm.