opinion piece on an 11 year old article on DmC
The article in question was from Destructoid titled “Ninja Theory: Old Dante Isn’t Cool Anymore” by Jim Sterling
link to it right here and you can read it, let me know what’s up with it
but basically it talks about how Tameem Antoniades believes that what was once cool about the (first) DMC 12 years ago can’t work anymore in their new iteration of the game. The author, Jim Sterling, disagrees about Dante’s character in general, specifically the preboot Dante, and personally thinks Dante wasn’t cool anyway (to Jim Sterling) but rather is just campy, silly and ridiculous in a positive way. To me, I think what he meant was that preboot Dante had a bombastic presence, particularly amped up in DMC 4.
Of course, we’re here, years later and reading this article (and for the 1st time actually because I was mostly looking at trailers), there seems to have been details that people, particularly critics, might’ve misunderstood.
Let’s just put aside opinions and, basing it from this article for now, it discusses how Ninja Theory wanted to present their Devil May Cry game without having to reuse tropes that had already been present from the very first installment of the preboot DMC. Because remember, they’re making a new game and it’s Part One of the DmC’s universe, hence why Tameem compared the 1st DMC to what they’re developing. They still wanted to make a similar impact, however, and I think we ought to know by now because Capcom wanted a new universe and not touching the preboot installments (although it’s marketing suggests how it’s replacing the preboot), Ninja Theory needed to completely make it new and to draw from other things/inspirations that’s not been done before.
Now, make of that what you will, especially since this is one article. They didn’t detail the process/inspirations yet in this article. I know it’s on another article (which you’re probably gonna look for, and I know it’s also another Destructoid article I’m not sure....), which I will make an opinion in the future.
For now, it’s opinion time.
I think there’s a lot of “he said, she said” that had happened at the height of the trailers and articles being released. Of course, now that we’re in the future, we know better and there’s been plenty of channels that had covered the actual timeline/opinions on it. But my opinion on this article alone is that it’s ill-titled. It’s not that I disagree or even agree with Sterling; rather, it was about updating and drawing on from other inspirations to create a new “cool” game. Ninja Theory themselves state that what made the original “cool” to begin with was it, too, drew inspirations from a selection of media and fashion, whether from the era/s the developers themselves saw as “cool” or from the current trends that’s circulating the zeitgeist at that time.
Plus, Tameem states specifically “ But, you know, what was cool 12 years ago — I think that was when the first game came out — isn’t cool anymore...”
He wasn’t particularly referring to preboot Dante, but the tropes/elements that make up the franchise, particularly the first installment. He wasn’t saying that Dante isn’t cool anymore; rather they want to update and find new inspiration/ways to make Dante cool in their game. And by that time this article was made, the 1st DMC was released back in the summer of August 23, 2001 (so he misremembered, the 1st one came out 9 years ago by the year 2010, the time this article came out). So if we’re being honest, the 1st DMC is truly of its time already and I can’t fathom how I’m going to fare if I replay the game in 2021 (I only finished it once and I have vague memories of how I even pulled through...). I’ve seen retrospective replays of it and....yeah, we can feel its charm and cheese, but mechanically and fiction-building-wise, it needs a revamp IF hypothetically Capcom got around that idea.
(looking at the REmakes, it would be interesting as how they’ll RE:DMC)
So, anyway, titling it “old Dante isn’t cool anymore” is rather lazy and more so to Sterling’s views than Ninja Theory’s. Of course, we can read other articles and other people’s views in video game journalism during this era (and I feel we’re going to get a lot of misunderstandings as well as damage control from Capcom, so....).
For now, I think it’s safe to say that Ninja Theory really was just pointing out that they have their entire homework cut out for them. They want to emulate something similar but not copy-pasting from a franchise that....basically it still has to have influence on the new one. So yeah, if we were in their shoes, it’s difficult. Like you were literally told to reboot a franchise and it’s not so much as backlash that’s the biggest issue, at least I think from a creators’ standpoint when it comes to creativity.
Furthermore, now with the power of retrospect and more knowledge about pop culture, regarding “coolness”, trends/fashion/beauty, etc. are all cyclical anyway. We’re now at an era where there are more people noticing and criticizing trends, and un/fortunately, retro-like mechanics and aesthetics have been getting a lot of buzz (as they should!) especially for indie developers. But on the flip side, developing games, while in a different wavelength of problems, has also become a fast “fashion” issue, crippling both creativity and polish.
But okay, I almost got off topic. If I’m going to be asked which Dante is cooler, and despite my bias for the reboot, the truth is Vergil is cool B)
Personally, I can never know what being cool is or what cool is to other people. I did say “coolness” is among the cyclical aspects with regards to fashion/pop culture/beauty/trends, etc. It’s “this” one minute, but suddenly there’s “that” for various reasons. What’s worse are those who have a voracious, cult-like devotion that there is supposedly “only one way” to be “cool”.
There are those who experiment and become trendsetters, and others follow suit; then there are those who experiment in a totally different direction and become the icons of their subculture/s, and others follows suit. To me, despite the cyclical nature, “coolness” is both objective and subjective, and because of that, it’s even more a volatile and unpredictable trope, more so now than when people were arguing if reboot Dante is even “cool” to begin with.
So I say, what if you walked into a bar outside of Tokyo, any bar looking like whichever Dante you choose, to me, the people’s reactions would depend whether they’re from 2010 or 2021. But I think it’s always cool if you can speak a bit of Japanese and followed etiquette, no matter what you look like.