Ninja Theory on Why Dante is Such a “Dickhead”

If there’s a single thing Devil May Cry reboot detractors criticize more than anything, it’s Dante’s controversial character changes. The initial uproar was caused over the redesign in appearance, but since then the single most community abhorred aspect of Dante has easily been his “trying too hard to be cool” personality.

Edge interviewed Ninja Theory’s technical art director, Stuart Adcock, along with their concept artist Alessandro Taini, and rather bluntly asked whether Dante is a dickhead, to which Alessandro responded:

[Jinkies]

I love how they keep digging themselfs into a bigger hole

If it's because of his past why was the other Dante not like that, Nathan Drake had been through at lot in his childhood and he's not a dick, same goes for Bruce Wayne in Batman or Marcus Fenix in Gears of War. I could go on...

[Obnoxious_Informer]

To be fair - Dante was tortured (I think) Drake on the other hand was a thrill seeking pick pocketing street rat. Not familiar enough with other characters to comment.

[Gaming_Guru]

Technically speaking when making a reboot, the creators can do anything they want. They can make the character a mental, the character could be immature, or the character could be Asian (race) anything is allowed.

If the reboot were to be the same as the last Dante then it would defeat the purpose of a reboot.

[zerocrossing]

Im still not sure what the purpose for the reboot is, outside of Capcom being greedy pr*%ks of course

[prototypeknuckles]

but then whats the point of rebooting if your going to completly change everything, just make a new ip and leave the old series alone, a reboot should have elements from the original, but still be different at the same time

EX: the legend of spyro, the new mortal kombat

[Gaming_Guru]

At Prototypeknuckles:

Well the point of the reboot is to use an already existing characters and make alterations. The thing that the reboot should maintain is the characters, and what they are, meaning if they are demons, trolls, or a superhero.

The perfect example of a good reboot would be the DC Comics superheros. The original Flash got his powers from dry ice with a costume that looked like it was made from the kitchen and no personal conflicts. The reboot had Flash in a police crime Lab when lightning struck him and the chemicals giving him his powers, and the creators gave him a personality with a one piece costume. The older superheros were perfect the reboot gave them imperfections, basically it changed for the times as science become more popular. They even brought drugs to their comics, racism (x-men brings this up a lot from Marvel), death, and everything in between.

[fei-hung]

You forget this Dante is based on Tameem "I am the God of video games" Titnades.

Clearly Tameem was bullied and possiy absurd as a child which is why he behaves the way he does. Inferiority complex through and through and this is going by his own principles.

For those of faith, pray good and hard this game fails do Shitcom and Ass Theory can both learn a valuable lesson from this.

For those of no faith, do whatever you guys do to ensure the same.

[godslayer429]

hes a "dickhead" because he is modeled after the developers lol

[Jobesy]

Exactly, first they model his looks after Tameem Antoniades, then his cocky ass personality. Projection much?

[WeAreLegion]

Dante's always been a dickhead. He's different now, but still.

[HarryKawkReturns]

Yeah, don't know what devil may cry you guys have been playing, but he was kinda known for being an over-the-top, stylish dickhead. If anything, the old Dante was more obnoxious than what we have seen in the trailers for DmC. I'm just gonna reserve my judgement for the full game.

P.S.- the demo was fun. Not bad. Definitely not Devil May Cry, but that isn't a complaint, nor a word of praise. Games change. People complain when they do; when they don't fit what THEY want. Some games don't change (CoD). People complain when they don't and even more complain and hate when they DO. So just relax guys, if you don't like it, it's fine. But don't stifle the people who WANT to enjoy it.

[Psychonaughty]

I think it's pathetic you have so many disagrees considering you made such a fair comment! Bubble + sir.

[Godmars290]

Isn't the central complain about the game is that it isn't DMC? That NT and Capcom made such an initial big deal about making a new and exciting series that would crap all over the old when NT only ever had a rep of making "okay" games? Now with the demo DmC just looks to be "okay" when they promised better.

None of that's going to mean crap if it does manage to sell better than DMC4, but I really don't think NT's first reply of "fans are stupid" is going to help.

[Godmars290]

He was a typical Japanese archetype. A softhearted tough guy who hide behind an air of cool aloofness.

Same thing for this guy, only he's a typical western archetype.

Though what really gets me in the 1%/class warfare theme the game has while its being made by a company which exemplifies class warfare on its own employees. Has as much respect for them as fans.

[HarryKawkReturns]

@GodMars yeah, I totally know where you're coming from. True, and agreed. But from my experience, THE complaint was, "OMG HIS HAIR NO WAY THAT'S NOT DANTE". Then it was, "OMG!!!! HE'S HALF ANGEL NOW WTF!!!!"
Personally, I think it's a cool twist. The story could turn out a lot better than what we think, but it could go both ways. And I feel ashamed admitting it, especially with some thick ol nostalgia goggles, but the presentation and storytelling in the trailers for the new game alone are already better than what I've seen in the past 4 games.

And, @psychonaughty thank you! I appreciate that. I was expecting an even worse Agree:Disagree ratio, but I'm happy to hear someone took my comment for what it was.

[ghostrider32]

I wonder why Capcom even chose to reboot the series. There was nothing wrong with it.

[Obnoxious_Informer]

I think Capcom felt Dante was too off putting to the Western market. I haven't played nor had any interest in the previous games, but new Dante is posed as a Western badass with a focus on rebellion which I can relate to more easily. It's a much more appealing personality to Western gamers than the aloof Japanese archetype described in another comment here.

[TemplarDante]

new Dante sucks.
Maybe, NT just does not know what Cool is.

[devilhunterx]

They should renamed him to EDWARD and would have sold in billions to the idiots.

[Grimhammer00]

Have a look at what's trendy these days....regardless of whether those trends are cool to us older gamers who grew up on old Dante.

I'll accept it for what it is and find fun in NT story telling abilities.

Demo played fun too.

[TheBatman_Fanatic]

Don't even compare The Batman to this idiot

[pompombrum]

So I wonder what NT's "theory" is about why they are a bunch of dickheads?

[zerocrossing]

New Dante is just a very dis-likable character in what is now a very average hack & slash game.

No matter what way you look at it the DmC reboot is a step backwards for the franchise, honestly it's only garnered this much attention because of fan outcry and the outrageous lies coming from Capcom, NT and the so called "Reviewers".

[Psychonaughty]

All I know is that this is the first game in the series that has interested me, mainly because it's not b-movie generic anime crap I suppose. I hope it does well to shut up all you haters, bunch of losers...

[Whitefox789]

Your not going to make your point by throwing this same comment in every DmC article.

While I myself have lost faith and do not approve of the direction the franchise is heading in as a whole I'm not going to ridicule this title anymore and point out what I believe is faults (it's grown tiring).

So if you can enjoy the game for what it is more power to you.

However you can't force the people who hate this game to suddenly turn around and like this game as if your trying to prove that this title is superior (or as if it has something to prove) and talk $hit about the previous titles all you can do is just leave it be.

[Psychonaughty]

Or I can dare put myself in harms way for my ideals, I can't say I regret my decision just because I got alot of (expected) disagrees, the one agree was worth it and I applaud the person tbh.

[Whitefox789]

It's not even about agree's or disagree's.

All I'm saying is, have some respect for the people who don't approve of this game instead of trying to call them out for their own beliefs.

[Psychonaughty]

I have respect for people who don't approve of the game but I have zero respect for the majority of the hate I've been seeing towards this game, I condemn what they are saying wholeheartedly and find them disgusting.

Comments like the one from TemplarDante below are what I am talking about, that is a loser if I ever saw one and there's many more like him sadly.

[Obnoxious_Informer]

It's amazing just how overwhelmingly the new Dante seems to be despised. Even intelligent comments advocating for, or justifying him to any extent get downvoted to hell.

I don't blame those who hate Dante for doing this, rather it's a very useful way to gauge how universally hated he is.

[BuffMordecai]

Because a dickhead development team handled the franchise.

[TemplarDante]

This is going to bomb!!
Just like Enslaved..
You know NT, for your arrogance, you hate of the dmc fanbase, you deserve this game to fail.
Personally, I hope it puts you out of business!

[JoeSchmoh]

How could you go from Devil May Cry Dante to Deigo-Tee May Cry Dante?

[timeon11111111111]

"Dante" is a dickhead because he is Ninja theory's version of Dante.