Ninja Theory Defends Dante Redesign [UPDATED]

[Hiken no Ace]

Ironically enough hard-edged biker guy would be more likely to be a meth addict than a counterculture moron.

And I can guarantee you that if Ninja Theory used anything similar to your design briefs people would still be whining about how its not the original design.

I don't know what school you went to, but in mine, it was definitely the "counter-culture" morons who were more likely to do this. But that aside, in that above picture of an alternate costume Dante, the costume's pretty lame, but I would not complain all that much about it. There's a difference between creating a new costume for a character and designing a whole new character and personality from scratch. Granted, we can't tell MUCH about his personality, but the first impression show us by the way he looks and moves in the video is that he looks like a skinny chain smoker. It would be one thing if they were just designing a younger looking Dante for some kind of coming of age tale, but this guy looks nothing at all like Dante. THAT is the main problem I have with this.

 

[EscapeGoat_v1legacy]

They are more than welcome to defend their redesign of Dante, but it won't change the fact that he looks plain dumb. I'm not sure where Ninja Theory have got their concept of "cool" from, but if this new not-Dante is what they think it is, then I don't agree. It's a shame they took a design that was badass and turned it into something that, quite honestly, looks generic and plain.

Still, I suppose I'll play it, or rent it at least, if only to see if what they have done lives up to the rest of the series. I'm massively skeptical, and more than a little disappointed though.

Oh, and I hope they make their minds up about this story. One day its a completely separate universe, not related to the actual series, and the next its an origin story. Seeing as we've already had an origin story, I hope this is just some parallel universe style story - that'll make it slightly more bearable.

Finally - why would they take inspiration from the new Bond films? The older ones were better - James was suave, intelligent, witty and had gadgets that were awesome. Making a character rough around the edges doesn't immediately make him better - quite the opposite I'd argue, or at least, quite the opposite usually.

 

[gallaetha_matt]

I'm not reassured by their comparison to the Casino Royale era James Bond at all. I thought that movie was godawful and an example of what not to do with a reboot. I never responded to the gritty, thuggish version of Bond at all - it seemed the exact opposite of what James Bond was about.

Plus they had him 'falling in love' - weak sauce.

Oh God, I really hope they don't pull that sort of crap in the new DMC.

 

[Pink_Pirate]

You know what... when i first saw the trailer, I, like all of you, was horrified and shocked by Dante's new look. And then I remembered that I play the DMC series for the gameplay. So whatever, i'll cast my vote after i play the game.

 

[NickCooley]

The only significant change is his hair colour. He did and still does look like a Grade A nob-jockey.

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

Wait, wait. They're defending this? At least Sucker Punch had the gratitude to go back to the drawing board [http://au.ps3.ign.com/articles/110/1108060p1.html] when their design for inFamous 2's protagonist was called out as "really lame"... I was thinking something like this would occur. I assume developers of popular series listen to their fanbase, yeah? Oh. Evidently not.

I've been really disappointed with Ninja Theory recently.

 

[Syntax Error]

Origin story? What the heck was DMC 3 then?

 

[Dr. Octogonopus]

Firstly

Ironically enough hard-edged biker guy would be more likely to be a meth addict than a counterculture moron.

And I can guarantee you that if Ninja Theory used anything similar to your design briefs people would still be whining about how its not the original design.

I don't know what school you went to, but in mine, it was definitely the "counter-culture" morons who were more likely to do this. But that aside, in that above picture of an alternate costume Dante, the costume's pretty lame, but I would not complain all that much about it. There's a difference between creating a new costume for a character and designing a whole new character and personality from scratch. Granted, we can't tell MUCH about his personality, but the first impression show us by the way he looks and moves in the video is that he looks like a skinny chain smoker. It would be one thing if they were just designing a younger looking Dante for some kind of coming of age tale, but this guy looks nothing at all like Dante. THAT is the main problem I have with this.

What I meant is that where I live meth is mostly used by people who cant afford school and is generally associated as a poor mans drug. Thats why I made the Biker Guy reference because it has heavy association with biker gangs like Hell's Angels and the such. Its referenced slightly in GTA: Lost and the Dammed. But anyway off topic.

I see a lot of people annoyed at the fact that Dante is smoking. I dont really understand that point. I mean its supposed to be set in his teenage years and smoking cigerettes is seen as a stereotypical teenage rebellion thing to do. A lot of smokers start smoking at about pre-teen/teenage age. As for the skinny aspect the video shows him in a correctional facuility, which is again another sign of teenage misbehavior, and that would explain why hes skinny.

I understand your point about Dante looking nothing like the original, I was also shocked when I saw the new design but to be fair I thought the old design was a bit dated. I see a lot people calling new Dante "emo-boy" which I dont really understand. In terms of design he looks very similar to the dude from The Cure which is more goth than emo and besides I thought that the original Dante looked more emo, a combination of Japenese band Gackt and the Gerad 'im not okay' Way the douchebag from My Chemical Romance the poster boy of all things emo. I think the only thing that made Dante a good character was his personality, a combination of rebelliousness and i-dont-give-a-fuck attitude which if Ninja Theory can replicate properly then teenage Dante should have an even better rebel attitude

 

[Dr. Octogonopus]

Secondly

Wait, wait. They're defending this? At least Sucker Punch had the gratitude to go back to the drawing board [http://au.ps3.ign.com/articles/110/1108060p1.html] when their design for inFamous 2's protagonist was called out as "really lame"... I was thinking something like this would occur. I assume developers of popular series listen to their fanbase, yeah? Oh. Evidently not.

I've been really disappointed with Ninja Theory recently.

To be fair the Infamous redesign and the DmC redesign are two completely different cases. The main complaint about the new Nathan Drake...I mean the new Cole McGrath was that the main theme behind Infamous 1 was to toughen him up and make him emotionally hardened so he can focus on the main task of defeating The Beast, the main boss of the 2nd game. Everything is explain in the ending cutscene and basically the events in the 1st game happened so that he would be a bad-ass in the 2nd game. Fans were shocked with the twist ending and cliff hanger and where waiting to kick some serious beast ass in the second game but they were shocked again when the saw the new design and released that it wasnt a new Uncharted trailer. The character was redesigned due to people complaining about the original Cole being generic and boring, complaints made mostly by people who either havent finished the game, played the game at all or didnt understand that he was supposed to be a generic everyday king of guy. Complaints were sent again from people who were expecting the hardcore Cole from the end of the 1st game. The main complaint was that Sukerpunch had completely changed the design AND personality, he had a less gruff voice and witty, sarcastic Nathan Drake/Spiderman style dialog plus most people see the bad guy ending as the proper canon of the series which doesn't make sense when the evil Cole now looked like he should be in a pepsi advert. Also sukerpunch did the redesign based of fan suggestions then did the re-redesign based on fan suggestion again. It wouldnt have made sense to keep the fan asked redesign if said fans were unhappy with it. The redesign of Dante was not based on fan suggestions it was made according to Ninja Theory's artistic idea of a different(keyword here) and younger Dante. Different developer, different design. I can understand why people are upset but then just dont play it. Its not a Capcom Devil May Cry its a Ninja Theory Devil May Cry

 

[Dexiro]

I'm not getting how the old Dante looks dated or "uncool" in any way, he looks fucking awesome just as he always did.

I'll be interested in the other aspects like the new music and camera angles and stuff. I always thought those aspects of DMC looked a little dated but I kind of liked it, it was like the game's unique style.
Although I was never much for the music in other DMC games I at least hope they got that right. If we end up with Fallout Boy and Brokencyde singing the new theme tune that game can go to hell.

 

[Impluse_101]

They redid the hair...to be like James Bonds hair....

I got nothing against James bond... it's just...ugh...

 

[Josh Kurber]

Yes, be very afraid of change, because we don't need anything to change. /sarcasm

I say, good job at Ninja Theory for trying to do something new with their intellectual property and not backing away when the shit hit the fan (like Sucker Punch did). Speaking as a fan of Devil May Cry since the first one, I am not in the slightest bit offended, annoyed or angered by the new redesign. They should stick with it.

I am quite the same. I have everything related to Devil May Cry (i.e. Books, anime, games, even bought Nero's replica sword online. xD) And I am not so pissed off by this change. I love Dante, but he was getting on in his days. He was becoming the old corny guy that just wouldn't give up.

Nero: I thought you said this sword was important to you?
Dante: That's the only gift worth giving.

Now tell me, what kind of bad ass craps out lines like that daily? I mean, Dante IS a bad ass, but those kinds of lines always turned me off from his rugged good looks and his ability to kick everything and anything's ass.

And this look isn't horrible. I think it seems more punkish then emo. But that's just my own personal input.

And they are at least trying to give him a change over the game, otherwise I doubt they would have mentioned one. All I need is a good storyline (which we don't know yet) and good gameplay (Also, which we don't know yet) and I'll be happy.

 

[Josh Kurber]

Secondly

Wait, wait. They're defending this? At least Sucker Punch had the gratitude to go back to the drawing board [http://au.ps3.ign.com/articles/110/1108060p1.html] when their design for inFamous 2's protagonist was called out as "really lame"... I was thinking something like this would occur. I assume developers of popular series listen to their fanbase, yeah? Oh. Evidently not.

I've been really disappointed with Ninja Theory recently.

To be fair the Infamous redesign and the DmC redesign are two completely different cases. The main complaint about the new Nathan Drake...I mean the new Cole McGrath was that the main theme behind Infamous 1 was to toughen him up and make him emotionally hardened so he can focus on the main task of defeating The Beast, the main boss of the 2nd game. Everything is explain in the ending cutscene and basically the events in the 1st game happened so that he would be a bad-ass in the 2nd game. Fans were shocked with the twist ending and cliff hanger and where waiting to kick some serious beast ass in the second game but they were shocked again when the saw the new design and released that it wasnt a new Uncharted trailer. The character was redesigned due to people complaining about the original Cole being generic and boring, complaints made mostly by people who either havent finished the game, played the game at all or didnt understand that he was supposed to be a generic everyday king of guy. Complaints were sent again from people who were expecting the hardcore Cole from the end of the 1st game. The main complaint was that Sukerpunch had completely changed the design AND personality, he had a less gruff voice and witty, sarcastic Nathan Drake/Spiderman style dialog plus most people see the bad guy ending as the proper canon of the series which doesn't make sense when the evil Cole now looked like he should be in a pepsi advert. Also sukerpunch did the redesign based of fan suggestions then did the re-redesign based on fan suggestion again. It wouldnt have made sense to keep the fan asked redesign if said fans were unhappy with it. The redesign of Dante was not based on fan suggestions it was made according to Ninja Theory's artistic idea of a different(keyword here) and younger Dante. Different developer, different design. I can understand why people are upset but then just dont play it. Its not a Capcom Devil May Cry its a Ninja Theory Devil May Cry

Finally, someone understands the difference between the two situations. I see people comparing them constantly...

 

[Josh Kurber]

I'm not getting how the old Dante looks dated or "uncool" in any way, he looks fucking awesome just as he always did.

I'll be interested in the other aspects like the new music and camera angles and stuff. I always thought those aspects of DMC looked a little dated but I kind of liked it, it was like the game's unique style.
Although I was never much for the music in other DMC games I at least hope they got that right. If we end up with Fallout Boy and Brokencyde singing the new theme tune that game can go to hell.

Bahahahah, you sir, have just made my day xD

 

[MadGodXero]

As much as I loved the previous games, I'm hoping this new Dante impresses me. I just hope the entire game doesn't take a turn down toilet lane..

 

[dark-amon]

I'm more curious on what changes that's been made for the gameplay. But when they defend the redesign of Dante I have to wonder: Why make somethin so iconic like the old Dante into something that looks like it could be a guy from any game featuring characters with human design?I'm not saying that the new design is bad, but I do think it's less noticable than the older.

 

[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)?

Ironically enough hard-edged biker guy would be more likely to be a meth addict than a counterculture moron.

And I can guarantee you that if Ninja Theory used anything similar to your design briefs people would still be whining about how its not the original design.

I'd have to agree on both points. One lesson I've learned from the internet is that you can't stop people from whining no matter what you do.

Also, I didn't mean to call out counterculture morons on accusations of meth addiction. I only meant that DMC Dante looks like both a counterculture moron, and someone who is addicted to meth.

 

[Josh Kurber]

I'M JUST GOING TO GET THIS OUT OF THE WAY. I. Hate. Emos. Plain and simple, Terriwhatever your name is. I do'nt like this. Please change it. If you want people to buy your product,you HAVE to listen to the fans.

Why do you hate "emo people", whatever you stereotype them as. What have they ever done to anyone besides like a completely different style. That's like saying you hate gangsters because of their music and dressing style, which is pretty bigot of you.