Why the New Dante is Just Fine
By ultimatepunchrod 79 Comments
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwIFRl1Fo-U
Watch that first if you haven't seen it. Otherwise what follows will make no sense.
When the new Devil May Cry game was announced at the 2010 Tokyo Game Show, the new Dante was also revealed, and of course, the internet user backlash was quick and full of hate. I was pretty put out by the idea of a reboot instead of a direct sequel, but after watching the trailer a few more times, I got excited, and when I saw the comments of pure hate, I decided to come up with some reasons to give it a chance.
1. The Tone Works
If you look at all the Devil May Cry games --accept for 2 because that one didn’t match up and is discounted by more than a few fans—the tone is that of Dante being a tough, trash talking, quick witted and all around badass character. The creators instilled those characteristics throughout each game. Even in 2 where Dante was almost lifeless, the player still knew that he was tough because he could slice through enemies with ease (maybe a little too much ease, but still).
The new Dante looks to be absolutely no different. Regardless of whether you think Dante should be smoking or not, he still looks like he kicks as much demon butt as ever and he’s still doing it with style. Look at the trailer again; whenever Dante starts fighting he burns one demon he has in a headlock with a cigarette, then rushes head first into a group of these monsters and uses his pistols at close range. That sounds like the Dante that everyone knows and loves right? In other words, this Dante isn’t emo; this Dante isn’t a Twilight character because those two things are defined by your actions not your haircut, and his actions seem pretty brutal here.
If this is emo:
Watch that first if you haven't seen it. Otherwise what follows will make no sense.
When the new Devil May Cry game was announced at the 2010 Tokyo Game Show, the new Dante was also revealed, and of course, the internet user backlash was quick and full of hate. I was pretty put out by the idea of a reboot instead of a direct sequel, but after watching the trailer a few more times, I got excited, and when I saw the comments of pure hate, I decided to come up with some reasons to give it a chance.
1. The Tone Works
If you look at all the Devil May Cry games --accept for 2 because that one didn’t match up and is discounted by more than a few fans—the tone is that of Dante being a tough, trash talking, quick witted and all around badass character. The creators instilled those characteristics throughout each game. Even in 2 where Dante was almost lifeless, the player still knew that he was tough because he could slice through enemies with ease (maybe a little too much ease, but still).
The new Dante looks to be absolutely no different. Regardless of whether you think Dante should be smoking or not, he still looks like he kicks as much demon butt as ever and he’s still doing it with style. Look at the trailer again; whenever Dante starts fighting he burns one demon he has in a headlock with a cigarette, then rushes head first into a group of these monsters and uses his pistols at close range. That sounds like the Dante that everyone knows and loves right? In other words, this Dante isn’t emo; this Dante isn’t a Twilight character because those two things are defined by your actions not your haircut, and his actions seem pretty brutal here.
If this is emo:
Then so is this by definition:
The new music works as well. Now, this is obviously a matter of preference. The music in the first 4 games fit well with the gothic setting, but not with Dante’s attitude. “Taste the blood; taste your fate; swallow your pride with your hate.” This does not personify Dante’s Devil may care attitude in the least. The old music was too brooding; it worked, but only just and sort of became a joke by the 4 game. Now the new music seems to go along perfectly with Dante’s attitude and the setting. It’s fast paced; it’s hard; and it’s cool.
2. This Fits Perfectly With References to Dante’s Past
Dante never goes into detail about his past. No one does. There’s a vague reference in the 3 game about he and Vergil meeting a year before the events of that game, but that’s it. In the 3 game, it is implied heavily implied that Dante is reluctant of the demon powers he has inherited from his father, Sparda and that Vergil wants as much as he can have. With that in mind, it makes sense that Dante would be an extremely troubled teen. At this point in his life we have no idea if his mother has been killed or if Vergil has turned (for lack of a better phrase) to the dark side. If these two things have happened, it seems pretty clear that Dante would be angry and rebellious. His parents are MIA and his brother is evil. This fits into a possible explanation for his white patch: he wants to reject the demon side of himself and dyes his hair to cover it up (that’s an early assumption, so it’s probably incorrect). Also, people seem upset that he’s a smoker in this depiction, and no matter how he felt about smoking once he was an adult, as a teen, he probably cares a lot less about his body (as most teens do). Besides smoking, how does he take all this aggression he has out? By killing demons of course! He’s not bottling it all up like an “emo” kid would do; he’s doing what Dante does, and that means killing a lot of demons with style. Now, once he got most of this aggression out of his system he could easily turn into the more sarcastic and smart mouthed demon hunter of DMC 3. All-in-all this fits Dante’s persona much better than most people seem to think it does.
This DOES make sense:
3. Everything is Still in Place
What does every DMC fan remember about the iconic and amazing DMC series? White hair, Ebony and Ivory, big swords (named Rebellion, Force Edge, Red Queen, and Yamato), plenty of creepy demons to kill, and an awesome front man that’s what. And guess what? They’re all still here.
The white hair is hard to spot, but it’s in this picture and every subsequent screenshot (I promise):
(See it's on top of his head, I'm not making it up)
The twin pistols:
(They're Even Black and White Here)
The Big Sword and a decent shot of the new creepy demons:
(Well here it;s a scythe, but I mention the weapon changing a little later.)
And the tough character:
(Yeah, I know this is polarizing)
In other words, this is still your Devil May Cry; it’s just been given a visual overhaul and not even a huge one. The refinements are just to make Dante look younger; that’s all.
4. Combat Looks Promising
Take a look at some of the action from the trailer; ignore the look of Dante; just focus on the action.
Dante is shooting demons at close range; this isn’t new to the series which should make the naysayers happy. Something that is new is the melee system. Dante’s new “sword” is changing from pole arm, to sword, to a some kind of chain weapon watch at 1:22; see how it looks like a sword and then changes to be the chain weapon? This would make sense as Ninja Theory’s Heavenly Sword employed this kind of system. Also, he’s using these different forms of the weapon to tear up the environment pretty hard. This is exciting. It could make the action even more brutal than it’s ever been.
Speaking of Heavenly Sword, Ninja Theory can do action quite adequately. The overlooked and under appreciated (by gamers) debut title from Ninja Theory shows how capable the team is at making action very fun and engaging. With multiple combo options and different types of weapon variations for each type of enemy that comes, they really made something special, especially considering that it was their first title (as Ninja Theory). We’ll have to see how Enslaved: Odyssey to the West shapes up, but they have my confidence.
(So I hear this was a pretty good debut)
5. It’s Really Way too Early to Tell
Despite all these reasons I’ve come up with here (and the various hate comments that have popped up), the fact is that it’s just too early. All of this hate and hope are based on a trailer for a game that is more than likely in extremely early stages of development. There’s not one frame of gameplay here; the trailer is less than two minutes long; and it’s all just speculation at this point. The whole thing is just that people are very attached to this series. Anything that Ninja Theory and Capcom could have put out at this point (or any for that matter) would be met with criticism and hate, but it’s just too early to know if this game will be good, and isn’t that the whole point?