Ninja Theory Defends Dante Redesign [UPDATED]

[undeadbydawn]

"If Dante, dressed as he was, walked into any bar outside of Tokyo, he'd get laughed out,"
on of my favourite comments in the review I read of Devil May Cry is 'he'd have to be completely *nails* to go out dressed like that.'
Part of Dante's cool is that he _can_ look completely rediculous and not give a shit, because he is utterly sick in a fight. The flowing red overcoat made for damned sweet prop because it literally followed him around like motion blur that didn't suck.

Besides all that, I kinda like the redesign. Almost makes me want to buy a PS3. Almost
ho hum.

 

[DanDeFool]

Why didn't they just go with something like Dante's alternate costume from DMC2?

http://www.gamersgallery.com/gallery/data/564/2567diesel_dante_outfit1.jpg

Okay, the zebra-pattern scarf is retarded, but other than that I think it works pretty well and better to look like a wannabe hard-edged biker guy than some kind of meth-addicted counterculture moron.

Or you could, you know, make him look like a normal guy. Jeans, button-down shirt and a wifebeater; I could go for that. Maybe even have him wearing business attire; have Dante as just trying to live a normal white-collar life when his demonic heritage catches up with him and he has to start kicking ass and chewing bubble gum (soon after realizing that he's all out of gum)?

 

[mr_rubino]

You are talking about the same film as them, right? Casino Royale? It was a worldwide blockbuster. Lots of money. Where are you getting "flop"?

"Opening day estimates in the United States and Canada showed Casino Royale on top with $14,750,000, while opening weekend estimates showed it in second place with $40,600,000,[52] as well as earning another $42,000,000 internationally. Although Happy Feet won the overall weekend box office contest,[...]" ->Source:Wikipedia [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casino_Royale_%282006_film%29#Box_office]
-Now, you just KNOW something is wrong when you're struggling for first-place with a Children's flick.
And get this:"Accounting for inflation, Casino Royale is currently the fifth most successful of all James Bond films, behind Thunderball, Goldfinger, You Only Live Twice, and The Spy Who Loved Me." -that's pretty-much ALL of the major box-office Bond movies.
Now I don't know about you... but Personally I just couldn't stomach this new "James Blond" image the Studio imposed on it's audience in much the same way I can't stomach this "Emo-Dante" which Ninja-Theory is trying to shove down our Necks :-/

But then-again, if you're the kind of person that really enjoyed Hollywood's reboot of Spiderman, then you're probably gonna like this P.o.S. as well.

Hm... The Craig-Not-Bond people used that silly Happy Feet argument and they were sufficiently laughed out the door of every message board they swarmed. I suppose you could be an adult and understand the difference between a G-rated family movie and a PG13-rated action movie in terms of how many people it can draw, and you could just abandon the silly "flop" non-argument which is unsupported by... well... reality, but that doesn't jive with your argument about why your VG-boyfriend's new hair color made you mad, now does it?

EDIT: Silly me, how could I miss this? Those 5 (out of 30 or so) movies you mentioned? All from the first 20 years or so of the franchise. And CR was right behind those in gross. Yeah, that's a hell of an argument for your side. Bwahahaha!

 

[mr_rubino]

Double post'd.

 

[TOGSolid]

"If Dante, dressed as he was, walked into any bar outside of Tokyo, he'd get laughed out,"

Isn't this game supposed to be geared towards Western audiences? Who cares about Tokyo in that case?

Capcom USA's lead producer Alex Jones said that Capcom pushed the studio to do something different. He said that the early designs weren't all that different from the classic look,

Ninja Theory, I'm actually sorry I ragged on you. Capcom, I should have guessed you were to blame considering what is happening to Steel Battalion.

"When you see the Casino Royale remake," he said. "You see Bond before he's actually killed anyone, and it's a really traumatic event. He's rough-hewn, he's not polished or debonair, but you can see the essence of what that character will become. That's what we want to do with Dante. The core of him is there, it's just a rougher version. It's a becoming. He's not fully actualised."

I don't think the main problem people are having is the change itself. The issue is that the change looks fucking stupid.

Thank you.

At what point did we as Devil May Cry fans state that we want absolutely no change from game to game?

I concur with both these statements

Thirded.

 

[Graevan]

When I think of Dante I think of 4 things: White hair, dual pistols, sword, longcoat in that order. Based purely on initial images I don't like this rebooted Dante.
Put simply he's not Dante enough.

 

[brodie21]

whatever, trying something new will always piss people off.

however, i think that the new dante looks like a 13 year old emo fresh off a nice crying session

 

[Kelethor]

Look, I understand that it seems shallow of me too claim that I won't play the new DMC because Dante looks like an Emolicious mash up, So I wont say that. I will say however, that in my opinion, The new developer is making a mistake. The hair and "Emo" Look aside, Smoking? Really? Is Smoking still even Cool? I thought today's Youth moved on too Crack.

 

[DeathWyrmNexus]

Okay, seriously, what is the deal with making Dante younger and younger in these games? DMC 3 was a fucking prequel and this one... What? Takes place before that too? Damn, what next? Toddler Dante battling gremlins?

*sigh* I am tired of watching Dante be reconned... Let's move forward again, that would be super.

 

[shadow skill]

You are talking about the same film as them, right? Casino Royale? It was a worldwide blockbuster. Lots of money. Where are you getting "flop"?

"Opening day estimates in the United States and Canada showed Casino Royale on top with $14,750,000, while opening weekend estimates showed it in second place with $40,600,000,[52] as well as earning another $42,000,000 internationally. Although Happy Feet won the overall weekend box office contest,[...]" ->Source:Wikipedia [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casino_Royale_%282006_film%29#Box_office]
-Now, you just KNOW something is wrong when you're struggling for first-place with a Children's flick.
And get this:"Accounting for inflation, Casino Royale is currently the fifth most successful of all James Bond films, behind Thunderball, Goldfinger, You Only Live Twice, and The Spy Who Loved Me." -that's pretty-much ALL of the major box-office Bond movies.
Now I don't know about you... but Personally I just couldn't stomach this new "James Blond" image the Studio imposed on it's audience in much the same way I can't stomach this "Emo-Dante" which Ninja-Theory is trying to shove down our Necks :-/

But then-again, if you're the kind of person that really enjoyed Hollywood's reboot of Spiderman, then you're probably gonna like this P.o.S. as well.

Hm... The Craig-Not-Bond people used that silly Happy Feet argument and they were sufficiently laughed out the door of every message board they swarmed. I suppose you could be an adult and understand the difference between a G-rated family movie and a PG13-rated action movie in terms of how many people it can draw, and you could just abandon the silly "flop" non-argument which is unsupported by... well... reality, but that doesn't jive with your argument about why your VG-boyfriend's new hair color made you mad, now does it?

EDIT: Silly me, how could I miss this? Those 5 (out of 30 or so) movies you mentioned? All from the first 20 years or so of the franchise. And CR was right behind those in gross. Yeah, that's a hell of an argument for your side. Bwahahaha!

If CR was behind those now ancient Bond movies when adjusted for inflation doesn't that mean that CR did notably worse than those now ancient movies? So what have you proved here? Your counter-argument is about as convincing as the argument that DMC did not need a reboot because the last game sold 2.5 million. The only problem with that argument is that DMC was released on three different platforms in relatively short order. (Two of the three were simultaneous.) If you look at the sales numbers in that context you see that sales were not so great at all.

snip

You sir have made my day.

 

[quantumsoul]

Hopefully Vergil will be back since it is a reboot. I was hoping for a part 5. Nero was my favorite character. I can't be the only one who thinks so.

 

[shadow skill]

Hopefully Vergil will be back since it is a reboot. I was hoping for a part 5. Nero was my favorite character. I can't be the only one who thinks so.

While not my favorite I did like him.

 

[Zeromaeus]

Hopefully Vergil will be back since it is a reboot. I was hoping for a part 5. Nero was my favorite character. I can't be the only one who thinks so.

While not my favorite I did like him.

Agreed. Nero wasn't a bad character. The only reason the fan-base didn't like him, in my opinion, was that he stole Dante's spotlight.
I was hoping for a DMC 5 as well (followed by a 6 and maybe even a 7). I saw a lot of potential in the characters they had and even potential to tie up the loose ends at the end of 2.
Water under the bridge now. At least for this title. I expect that this'll be the next 2.

 

[The Brocken]

I think that the haircut is kind of dorky, but other than that it's awesome. Speaking of hair, hasn't anyone considered that he, I don't know, dyed it? What people tend to forget is that Dante is supposed to be either American or European. Think about it, if you showed up in high school with white hair, do you honestly believe that it would be considered cool? No, it wouldn't. You'd be made fun of constantly.

 

[Mysnomer]

Right, so now trolling is a good design methodology? Did I miss that memo? Interestingly, I'm working on a story that is an alternate take on the Megaman games. I guess to design my characters I should focus on changing the originals in ways that would piss off the people who developed the games in the first place. Thanks for that bit of advice Capcom, I'm now ensured the support of the masses.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Some arguments I see a lot of:

-It's only hair, quit whining.
Wrong, it's a different design methodology altogether, and even if I was okay with the hair, clothing, and body structure change, I want to know what the hell they did to his face, the structure is completely different.

-You've only seen the trailer, you don't know anything about the game.
We lack direct experience or video evidence of the gameplay, true. However, we have evidence of a disregard (if not outright disdain) for the previous design, BS justifications like this interview, and the fact that this is what they chose to show at TGS. You're supposed to put your best foot forward for reveals like this, and if this is their best foot, they're in trouble.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If Ninja Theory could do one thing to restore any sort of credit to themselves, it would be to announce that despite "Westernizing" DMC, there will be no quick-time events. If I see one, even one button prompt appear on screen, I will never look at this game again. I will never support it, but neither will I bash it, it will fade into the ether. It will simply cease to exist. I have an inkling of another game that suffered the same fate, but I can't seem to recall...

snip

Also, always nice to hear a well thought out Therumancer post.

 

[shadow skill]

Hopefully Vergil will be back since it is a reboot. I was hoping for a part 5. Nero was my favorite character. I can't be the only one who thinks so.

While not my favorite I did like him.

Agreed. Nero wasn't a bad character. The only reason the fan-base didn't like him, in my opinion, was that he stole Dante's spotlight.
I was hoping for a DMC 5 as well (followed by a 6 and maybe even a 7). I saw a lot of potential in the characters they had and even potential to tie up the loose ends at the end of 2.
Water under the bridge now. At least for this title. I expect that this'll be the next 2.

I think it was more that Nero was too close in design to Dante. He wasn't sufficiently separated from Dante like how Virgil was. Virgil looked exactly like Dante but dressed and acted differently. Nero looked vaguely like Dante and dressed even more like Dante without actually being Dante. This sort of thing just doesn't work with people at large.

 

[SelectivelyEvil13]

I have trouble judging from a trailer alone, especially with no actual relation to the gameplay shown, so I'm not too adverse to the new look. Still, I can sympathize with those who are fans of Devil May Cry and are upset with the change. However, what I am more interested in is if they can pull off the actual gameplay not screw that up. Awful gameplay would ruin both sides' day.

I also hope that with the Daniel Craig idea in their minds that they don't make DMC into a Quantum of Solace.
[sub][sub]Damn I hated that movie...[/sub][/sub]Casino Royale was a pretty good movie from what I remember though.

 

[Zeromaeus]

Hopefully Vergil will be back since it is a reboot. I was hoping for a part 5. Nero was my favorite character. I can't be the only one who thinks so.

While not my favorite I did like him.

Agreed. Nero wasn't a bad character. The only reason the fan-base didn't like him, in my opinion, was that he stole Dante's spotlight.
I was hoping for a DMC 5 as well (followed by a 6 and maybe even a 7). I saw a lot of potential in the characters they had and even potential to tie up the loose ends at the end of 2.
Water under the bridge now. At least for this title. I expect that this'll be the next 2.

I think it was more that Nero was too close in design to Dante. He wasn't sufficiently separated from Dante like how Virgil was. Virgil looked exactly like Dante but dressed and acted differently. Nero looked vaguely like Dante and dressed even more like Dante without actually being Dante. This sort of thing just doesn't work with people at large.

Hmmm. I got more of a, if you mixed Dante and Vergil together kind of feel from Nero. Maybe it was the blue Devil Trigger. It was probably the blue Devil Trigger. And Yamato. And Nero being the son of Vergil (?).

 

[CRoone]

It might be better to treat this as an alternate canon.

Sounds good to me. I can handle artistic license, and if they can make the new look work for them, fine. However, I hope they have the common sense not to go changing too much, lest they alienate their own fanbase. Of course, judging by the course and tone of discussion as it stands right now, I'd say they might have to deal with that anyway. I'd hate to be them when the fan mail starts pouring in...then again, who knows? They might actually be onto something here. I guess it most depends on how they'll avoid making Dante look like a douche.

Out of curiosity, though...I wonder who the bad guy is going to be this time?

 

[Kyuubi Fanatic]

I may accept this as a redesign, and a reboot, but as an official origin story that supersedes DMC3?

Sir, you can kindly fuck off.