Ninja Theory Defends Dante Redesign [UPDATED]

[Beryl77]

I was going to buy the game even though Dante looks idiotic now but I reconsider it because of this petty excuse.

 

[Casual Shinji]

with this explanation they could've given the original Dante these clothes.

that would be acceptable.

but one thing I do not get. how does Dante go from being modern to being less modern over his years.(this being an origin story)

That's a problem almost every prequel has, especially the Star Wars prequels: It's supposedly the past yet everything looks way more advanced and nobody seems to have 70's hairdo's.

If this new DMC is really a prequel they should redesign Dante to look like this...

If there's anyone who looks and acts like Dante it's Billy Idol.

 

[sheah1]

Why is everyone so bloody negative about this? He looks pretty damn awesome (a bit like Brian Azzarello's Joker) and he's entirely in tune with DMC's style. And before anyone says that they should have just done a sequel, the couldn't. Dante's story was over and passed onto Nero, but all the people who are bitching and moaning here bitched and moaned about Nero as well, stopping everyone from finding out about his story (like, you know, how he's Virgil?!). Please don't ***** about change after forcing them to change.

 

[tendo82]

What's the big deal? Dante now looks like an English twink instead of a Japanese one.

 

[lee1287]

Dante would get laughed out abar? He would kill everyone in the bar before that happened.

 

[JPH330]

Yes and no.

Yes in that Deadpool has debatably and measurably the better, more universally recognized and appreciated humor of the two, grounded in genius absurdism and satire. Dante's pretty much just a vain, showboating jackass, and your appreciation of said showboating or jackassery may vary. There's not as much of a point to it except to provide you with the opportunity to become a showboating jackass yourself.

No in that Deadpool = guns and swords, Dante = guns and swords. Deadpool = wise-cracking merc with a mouth, Dante = wise-cracking merc with a mouth. Also, they both wear red. *shrug*

The core elements of their personalities, their motivations, and even the motivations behind their respective products are indeed very different, but you have to appreciate that they're still strikingly similar, if only from a superficial perspective. I would point out that ultimately the result is two characters that both exist for the sake of catharsis.

The main difference I see between them is the way the audience is expected to perceive them.

With Dante, I can tell I'm supposed to look at him and think "Man, he's so awesome!" whenever he makes a wisecracking remark or does his ridiculous stunts, though his comments always make me feel that he's an egotistical prick. And when we get to the point where he's playing an electric guitar to summon bats, all I can do is facepalm, even though I know I'm supposed to be thinking to myself "Dude, that is so badass."

Deadpool, on the other hand, is batshit crazy, and the audience is never expected to think otherwise. He's ridiculous and he does ridiculous things, but it's all in the name of comedic relief instead of awesomeness. He's funny because he's the only character in the Marvel universe who actually realizes he's a comic book character (or maybe not anymore, since there are so many Marvel characters, but shut up, I'm trying to make a point here).

Yeah, Dante's remarks are supposed to be humorous, but all they ever do for me is make me hate him that much more. With Deadpool, I feel no reason to hate him. Yeah, he has the same kind of superficial style, what with swords and guns, but I can appreciate it because that's not an integral part of his character. If they changed Deadpool's look I wouldn't really care, as long as his personality is the same. Yet with Dante, his stylishness seems to be so important to the fans that they're all throwing a fit because it's being changed. That's why he bothers me.

 

[JPH330]

Since when was emo cooler than badass?

>implying that Dante was ever badass to begin with

 

[Lord Beautiful]

*big-huge snippedy snip snip*

The only issue that I have with this post is that Johnny Yong Bosch (Adam, the Power Ranger) did not play Dante, but rather Nero. Reuben Langdon played Dante in both 3 and 4. If I recall, Mr. Langdon did do some martial arts tomfoolery for Power Rangers, but there you have it.

Everything else is dead on and I struggle to see anyone coming up with a valid counter-argument.

However, in regards to the placement in the Devil May Cry story, this takes place completely outside of the series canon, so this is a different Dante.

That said, this design still offends me, and I'll explain why.

Reimaginings such as these are supposed to take the core concepts of the source material and present them through a different spectrum of tastes, correct? Yes. This design does not do that.

Let's take Batman, for instance. Batman has had numerous authors give their spin on him, and in every single spin worth a shit, he maintained his identity. But let's say that an author decides to take Bruce Wayne, and take away nearly everything about him and replace it with something else. Let's say that Bruce Wayne is now a malnourished homeless old man with completely average intellect, loose morals, and amateurish fighting ability. He puts on a leather sex suit with a leather hood in the shape of a dog's head that he found in a dumpster of a downtown sex shop and fights criminals he sees in the streets.

Trying to pass off this design as an alternate take on Dante is akin to trying to pass off that disturbed hobo as Batman. It confuses me how some people think this is very much in line with the original character. For me, it's like saying that since that hobo has a leather suit, pointy ears on his hood, and fights crime, he's Batman. There's reimagining, and then there's making an entirely different character and banking on the established name to move copies.

 

[chinangel]

i'm willing to keep an open mind.

 

[WazzizFace]

I don't like his hair...

BUT!

I love the new fighting style and the weird shapeshifting weapon. Not sure about if i'm gonna buy it unless they release a demo.

 

[BaldursBananaSoap]

Seriously guys, watch the trailer and pause at 0:59. Oh what's that? White hair? Stop being whiny fucks.

 

[Phokal]

*big-huge snippedy snip snip*

Let's take Batman, for instance. Batman has had numerous authors give their spin on him, and in every single spin worth a shit, he maintained his identity. But let's say that an author decides to take Bruce Wayne, and take away nearly everything about him and replace it with something else. Let's say that Bruce Wayne is now a malnourished homeless old man with completely average intellect, loose morals, and amateurish fighting ability. He puts on a leather sex suit with a leather hood in the shape of a dog's head that he found in a dumpster of a downtown sex shop and fights criminals he sees in the streets.

You just described, very nearly, The Dark Knight Returns (albeit the fighting ability is due to the onset of old age). Great book.

 

[snave]

At most he looks like what most japanese 15 year old girls reading yaoi manga and giggling think a western dude should look.

Quoted for truth. Only places I've seen that sort of fashion are Uniqlo's ubiquitous "foreigner fashion" billboards. Even then, he lacks the bleached blonde 70's perm.

 

[Zero=Interrupt]

What they should've done with this article is double-panelled the screenshot with a pic of Ninja Theory's pretentious ass of a creative director, who seems to have insisted Dante looks just like him. Seriously. Same haircut, same facial bone structure.

For those of you who need a reference, here's the douche in question:

http://images.eurogamer.net/assets/articles//a/8/4/2/1/5/1/a_med_BRJ_9485.JPG.jpg

And heeeeeere's New Dante:

http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/9/2010/09/tgs_trailer_screengrabs_023_01.jpg

Get the picture?

Hey Antondies or whatever the fuck your name is, you can change his outfit and make the character younger/thinner/homeless or whatever, but do not inject yourself into the freaking game just to fulfill your fanfic aspirations. Come ON. Most of us were satisfied with the white-haired, red-coated badass.

 

[SNIPERFOX ft. Harry P.Ness]

emo dante.

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
little help? oh yeah emo culture. why do peopple think its. in very poor defence ninja.

im off

 

[The_Laughing_Man]

I heard some things that the new Dante was modeled after the head Dev of Ninja Theory.

 

[No_Remainders]

People need to have faith in studios, not all of them are out for a quick buck.

Try telling that to any Studio under the control of ActivisionBlizzard

Bobby Kotick would laugh in your face.

 

[gallaetha_matt]

snip

This post sums up exactly how I feel in an eloquent and well reasoned way. All the people saying that 'it's just a new haircut and a wardrobe change - what's the big deal?' would do well to read this post and see why we're really pissed off, instead of just jumping to conclusions.

It's not just the superficial character model change that bothers so many of us - it's the new developer pandering to what's 'in' right now. Imagine if every five years, every intellectual property was handed to a new developer or production company and completely revamped to fit the tastes of the younger generation.

Batman is now a sixteen year old recovering crack addict whose adopted parents died in the Iraq war. His real parents are the ancient God of Justice and Lucifer. He uses his supernatural powers to battle his arch nemesis, the Joker - an overweight pederast. Five years from now Batman will be remade as a vampire that sparkles in the sunlight.

Ever since the whole 'gritty reboot of Spiderman' fiasco, everybody seems to want to jump on the bandwagon and rebuild their franchises from the ground up. There's some room for this - but usually the developers wind up missing the point of the original, and would've been far better just going with an original idea.

Ironically - this new DMC idea would've been far better as an original game. I'd have felt more sympathetic towards it then, it may have even looked pretty cool. The DMC license seems tacked on to me.

However, I'm waiting for gameplay before I judge this. If they keep the combat as fun and intuitive as the other DMC games - I'm more than willing to give it a shot. I'll miss the old Dante of courlse, but it is the overall gameplay that counts.

The old Dante may have been a **** - but he was OUR ****, damnit!

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

Tameem, people have TRIED to make characters who "appeal to the youth" and they've ALWAYS flopped. That aesthetic has never, ever WORKED. Trends change too fast. The old Dante was well-loved enough that we wanted him in MvC3 and lo and behold, he was of the first newcomers announced. This almost sounds like Tameem taking cultural cheap shots at the Japanese just to satisfy his ego.

 

[gallaetha_matt]

What they should've done with this article is double-panelled the screenshot with a pic of Ninja Theory's pretentious ass of a creative director, who seems to have insisted Dante looks just like him. Seriously. Same haircut, same facial bone structure.

For those of you who need a reference, here's the douche in question:

http://images.eurogamer.net/assets/articles//a/8/4/2/1/5/1/a_med_BRJ_9485.JPG.jpg

And heeeeeere's New Dante:

http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/9/2010/09/tgs_trailer_screengrabs_023_01.jpg

Get the picture?

Hey Antondies or whatever the fuck your name is, you can change his outfit and make the character younger/thinner/homeless or whatever, but do not inject yourself into the freaking game just to fulfill your fanfic aspirations. Come ON. Most of us were satisfied with the white-haired, red-coated badass.

This, too.

The new developer can act like he's surprised the new Dante looks like him. But doesn't he have some input into what the character looks like? I kind of assumed that a guy who is creative director of a project might maybe have some creative control or something?

Lay these two images side by side and for every person that tells me they don't see a resemblance, I'll show you a liar.