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Some thoughts on Devil May Cry’s Dante and on coolness

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Some thoughts on Devil May Cry’s Dante and on coolness

Unread postby simanino » 18 Oct 2019 00:49

The following is an essay connecting some thoughts I had just before the release of Devil May Cry 5 about Devil May Cry and its main character, Dante.

Some of the latest, pre-release Devil May Cry 5 (DMC5) videos got me thinking. Capcom has managed to systematically mischaracterize the original Dante with each sequel. The special appeal of Dante in the original game is hard to recapture, but I’m afraid what was achieved then, if no one bothers to make a case for the glorification of his original version, might be altogether forgotten or even confused with this silly new character we’ve been getting in every sequel. One thing that must be noted right away is that the original game was created and directed by Hideki Kamiya, while all the other games were instead the responsibility of Hideaki Itsuno, and this certainly explains their striking difference.

The moment I watched DMC5 Dante mimic Bruce Lee’s squeals while swinging a glacier blue triple nunchuck, followed by him eccentrically using a demonic fedora hat as a weapon, was the moment I realized I’d never see reproduced again the embodiment of coolness that the original Dante represented. Coolness is something difficult to achieve, and the coolest character will be found where the highest excitability and flamboyance are constantly overcome: five steps from goofiness, close to the threshold of the laughter of clownery.

It will be easier to understand what the original Devil May Cry and its Dante did right if we compare them with the subsequent games and their corresponding characters. For the sake of brevity, I’ll be abbreviating the game’s title to DMC, adding the number 1 for the original game and the appropriate digit for each sequel (DMC1, DMC2, DMC3, DMC4, and DMC5).

Understanding how we got here
If you did not play DMC1 around the time of its release, you’ll hardly have an idea of what the concept “Devil May Cry”, as far as aesthetics go, means. DMC2 is generally regarded as having been a failed attempt to recreate the spirit of the original, and rightly so. But DMC3 is hailed as an amazing return to the series’ roots and even ranked by many as the de facto DMC experience. I disagree with this sentiment. Unlike what DMC3 would have you believe, DMC was not about stringing silly over-the-top combos like some jester. It was about controlling an extremely cool man in beautiful and detailed environments that were filled with dangerous and terrifying demonic enemies. The representation of DMC3 Dante’s personality differed significantly from that of DMC1 Dante’s not only in the manner by which the game’s mechanics delivered the action on-screen, but also on the non-interactive cutscenes that were displayed. In DMC3 we see an obnoxious teenager constantly screaming woo-hoo and going out of his way to display wild maneuvers for no reason like, say, jumping on top of a bazooka missile mid-air and then surfing it around. Meanwhile, in DMC1, the character woo-hoo’s once, at the exact ending of the game, after surviving a near-death experience. It will remain a mystery how Itsuno and his team infer from this that Dante must woo-hoo practically every single hour of his life: when riding a motorcycle, when swinging nunchucks, when stabbing a boring demon for the millionth time, and so on and so forth. It would not surprise me to discover that, somewhere in their studio, they sketched Dante stylishly tying his shoes only for him to, after the task was completed, blurt another woo-hoo. Itsuno failed in DMC2 with his overly serious and boring characterization of the hero. He got criticism for that, and then carelessly went in DMC3 for the opposite direction, serving us an absolute clown in the form of DMC3 Dante. It’s clear Itsuno either had no idea what coolness means or didn’t want Dante to be cool anymore. Unfortunately, this little truth escaped the eyes of many because the game was decent and very much playable, and since it kinda looked like the original, which everyone was at the time still drooling over, the market unwittingly rewarded Itsuno’s silly interpretation of Dante. People wanted to play a new DMC. Both the die-hard fans of the original game and the average casual gamer, however, could tell that something had been permanently lost as they played their games and kind of moved on. DMC3 was nonetheless lavished by the press with praise back in 2005, and it attracted a significant group of players that were mesmerized by its complex combat system. Since on the one hand everyone was at the time still praising DMC1, without however realizing what exactly made that game so good (DMC1 appeared almost out of the blue, to be fair, so everyone’s inability to discern its merits was excusable, since there were barely any terms of comparison), and on the other, many gamers were so enthusiastic in their praise of DMC3 and its combat system, an entire culture of DMC praise arose without anyone realizing what DMC actually was. The DMC1 fans would ambiguously demand better “atmosphere” and better enemy design, while the DMC3 fans were content with exploring the possibilities of the new combat system, and kept churning out ever more complex combos and uploading them to online streaming services or file-sharing websites for other players to watch. The difficulty of completing DMC3 with a perfect rank in its highest difficulty mode also proved to be a popular facet of the game for these fans, who discussed and shared their strategies online. DMC1 had also been praised for being challenging, so this must have been for them a sign that DMC3 was on the right track. Unfortunately, for reasons that are not my goal to explore in this essay, getting perfect ranks in DMC3’s hardest mode was challenging mostly due to bad game design. The experience of doing it fluctuated between boredom and frustration. I believe the expression crede experto applies here. In any case, the fate of DMC was set: DMC3 would now become the example future DMCs would follow, as all the born-yesterday kids eventually started parroting the praise of the DMC3 fans and gradually helped perpetuate a culture of DMC praise for the, in my view, wrong reasons.

Sequels versus the original
Let’s now have a quick glance at each DMC sequel and at how they relate to the original. DMC2 was insipid, and nobody seems to contest this. Moving then to the next: DMC3 is ultimately more of a Punchbag May Cry than a DMC. Other than presenting us with its elaborate combat system, the game offers us environments that are bland, enemies that 1) exhibit, with the odd exception, simplistic attack patterns and 2) look ugly, and a Dante that is sometimes annoying, sometimes silly, and very rarely cool. It’s also easy to notice that the original attention towards the little details was lacking: the walking animations, the tree leaves blowing with the wind, the studied camera angles, the number and quality of text-based interactions (in DMC1 you could check various objects with the press of a button, receiving in response the protagonist’s thoughts on them, à la Resident Evil).

Then came DMC4, which was a clear attempt to harmonize DMC1 and DMC3, and it more or less succeeded. Not surprisingly, DMC4 Dante leaned more towards the one seen in the third installment, as he was powered by an even more complex combat system. DMC4 had much better enemies than DMC3 (some of them displaying several attack patterns and grouping tactically, as well as possessing idiosyncratic weaknesses for us to exploit), but once again its environments were bland and too spacious, almost arena-like. In contrast, so many rooms and areas in DMC1 looked as though a painting from some gothic-tending Waterhouse-like artist had come to life. All the possible artifices that were available for the original team were used: camera angles, lighting, color: everything used to their maximum effect for a stunning delivery of beauty. (The remastered HD version does not compare in beauty to the original when displayed on a CRT TV, by the way.) One needs only to remember the Gaudí-inspired cathedral to realize this, while I’m here trying hard to remember any area in DMC4 that looked remotely as good as that one, despite the game’s graphics having been modelled by much more powerful hardware. DMC4 failed, like DMC3, to recreate the uncanny sense of wonder DMC1 possessed. And, of course, it once again featured a silly Dante. The relative coolness of a character can not only be seen in the action displayed in cutscenes but also in its mid-play animations, and indeed DMC1 Dante looks cool when walking, running, shooting, rolling, jumping, slashing his sword, punching and so on. The attention to detail that Team Little Devils showcased is impressive, and it’s clear they wanted to make the devil hunter look as cool as possible. Even when just standing still doing nothing he looks cool. As for DMC4 Dante, even though he was powered by better technology, he nonetheless lacked the guidance of the strong aesthetic sense the original DMC team had and therefore ended up moving around in a sillier fashion in a sillier world. You’ll be reading below how his over-the-top combos, juggles and weapons negatively affect the original DMC style. Finally, the cutscenes with Berial and Agnus are a striking example of the goofy behaviour a white-haired character wearing a red leather coat should not display if he wants to look cool, and prove once and for all the point I’m trying to make. Incidentally, it’s interesting to note also how the cooler Dante also sounds cooler, and that was in large part thanks to Drew Coombs’ excellent voice acting.

No character development needed
Some people will no doubt reply to some of the points above that Dante is different in each game because of a thing called “character development”. I understand this objection, but I think that it is missing the point. If I want to experience good character development, I will not play DMC. I will read a novel. When people go to the movies to watch 007, do they want to see James Bond develop into old age, or do they want to see the same badass Bond tackle new challenges? Similarly, when I bought DMC2 I wanted to see the amazing personification of coolness that DMC1 Dante was tackle new challenges. When I bought DMC3 I expected the same. When I bought DMC4 I no longer knew what to expect, but was still hopeful I'd get what I wanted. Now DMC5 is coming and the demonic fedora hats, the Bruce Lee yelling, and the omnipresent woo-hoo (as if riding a motorcycle would feel exciting for a guy who's been through such blood-pumping experiences as fighting the very King of Hell...) shown already in some of its pre-release videos tell me what to expect. And what I expect to see is the same thing I've seen Itsuno deliver ever since he stepped onto this series' direction: a try-hard buffoon parading in a silly world. Of course, throughout the decades the 007 films have made it to the cinema, Bond’s actors changed and numerous directors took some liberties with their characterization of the secret agent, but I feel these were not enough to destroy Ian Fleming’s Bond. Goikeda also took some liberties in his characterization of Dante in the DMC novel, and the end result was great. Itsuno, on the other hand, did not take "some" liberties with his characterization of Dante. He bungled the character to an enormous degree, making him almost unrecognizable from the original one—aside, of course, his white hair and his red coat, which apparently are the only things people noticed about the original demon slayer—and so we get to the whole point of me writing this analysis: to say that white hair and red coat alone do not a Dante make.

Videogames are complex things
Videogames are very complex things. If your videogame does one thing right (bringing innovation to the table in the form of an intricate combat system) it might yet still do a billion things wrong. Anyone who therefore replies to this analysis with some objection to the effect that DMC’s sequels had better story, or better combat, will have to however hear from me that those things do not suffice to elevate them above the original. For, once again, I do not play DMC in order to learn about a new good story, since I can find inordinately better and deeper stories elsewhere. And as for the intricate combat system: I’ll be analyzing it more deeply in a few moments, but keep in mind for now that “combat” is a concept that presupposes that there is an opponent. A professional boxing champion sparring with some random school kid isn’t combat, it’s mere child’s play. Therefore, what is the use of a so-called combat system that does not manifest itself on any real opponent, and is used instead to juggle around demonic punch bags? With the exception of Vergil and some other bosses, there are practically no actual opponents in DMC3 forcing us to use our elaborate combat system, and the same more or less applies to DMC4, as far as Dante is concerned. It’s all flash.

Not necessarily anime
Now, I’m aware DMC simulates to some extent crazy anime action, and that people are therefore willing to accept all the extra flash because of this. I understand that. But I also understand that anime is basically an animated 2D cartoon cardboard. DMC1, on the other hand, is a 3D videogame featuring a 3D character that moves around in a 3D world. Any objection to the proposition that overly elaborate and cartoonish combos look ugly in DMC vanishes if we consider that. For cartoon characters are by definition caricatures of real human beings. An animated 3D model motion-capped by real human actors will move and behave in a more realistic, less cartoonish, way. Moreover, the team behind DMC1 had all the time in the world to refine the behaviour of their 3D character into what they believed was the coolest behaviour possible (they themselves said in some interview that the main concept behind DMC was “coolness”). And I'm saying they succeeded, as opposed to the teams behind the sequels. I'm talking about pathognomy here. The pathognomy of coolness. DMC3 and DMC4 Dantes look far less cool than the original, as I’ve been contending throughout this text. But let’s now try to make one more connection: to what extent could the combat system be the culprit here?

When the mechanics clash with the aesthetics
The innovative combat system Itsuno developed might have actually been one of the reasons the series went aesthetically-speaking downfall. Putting such complex mechanics in a 3D action game in an aesthetically pleasing way is tough. Dante started to look like a clown right when he Jump Canceled a swinging glacier blue nunchuck into a deep purple electric guitar (all the while screaming woo-hoo as we all know by now). But this kind of clownery was practically a necessary byproduct of the game's complex combat system and its correspondent mechanics. Now, I have nothing against complex combat systems. But I'd rather learn to play the piano than learn to keep a boring demonic Sloth up in the air with meticulous just-frame inputs that prompt some flashy avatar on my TV screen to move around like a jester. Is it not more fun to strategically find a specific enemy's weakness and to then finish the business off with 3 or 4 purposeful moves? Doesn’t it look cooler than flashy hacking and slashing? Shinobi for the PS2 would certainly help one make a case for that. Meanwhile, in 2D action games (especially in 2D fighters) complex combat systems and their correspondent mechanics are there in order to better draw us in to their game world. A cartoon character swinging glacier blue nunchucks and then just-frame-jump-canceling it into a deep purple electric guitar looks and feels cool. This bombastic visual cocktail is required because that's how cartoons function: they simplify some thing or other from a represented object, while exaggerating another two or three. This is how cartoons draw us in. Moreover, all the mechanical challenge of making that over-the-top cartoonish stuff happen also adds up to the experience and helps us more easily immerse ourselves in the game. All of this, however, goes out of the window with 3D action games featuring 3D characters motion-capped by human actors. Watching Tom Cruise swinging glacier blue nunchucks and then just-frame-jump-canceling it into a deep purple electric guitar looks stupid. And if you spend your afternoon watching him do that, you also look stupid. My point here is that it is really difficult to make over-the-top action look cool with 3D characters. Of course it's possible: but the sweet spot is narrow. Do you want DMC Dante to act and play as a Marvel superhero? He had superpowers in DMC1 and a flashy jacket alright, but he still looked cooler than all your Marvel superheroes. The way he carried himself is decisive here. It is ultimately a very difficult point to grasp because, again, I'm talking about the pathognomy of coolness. You have to see it with your own eyes, I’m afraid, and no amount of words can make you understand it if you don’t already somewhat feel it.

Let’s rock!
This is a highly subjective matter, of course. Discerning cool from uncool is not the same as calculating 2+2. As for why I’m going out of my way to write such an in-depth subjective analysis of a fictional character? First, because I do a deep analysis on whatever the hell I want to do. Secondly, because I feel DMC1’s sense of coolness deserves to be seriously analyzed. With the original Devil May Cry Capcom managed to make a pimp-looking white-haired dude with effeminate red clothes and jewelry look cool as fuck—through his cool as fuck actions. That alone should tell you that the game was special. There is no denying Devil May Cry’s influence in the videogame industry, and with Devil May Cry 5 just around the corner, appearing almost two decades after the original, I couldn’t feel more excited about it, because despite some of the predictable silliness displayed, the game is indeed looking awesome. The only thing left for me to write while I wait for its release, then, can now only meaningfully be: Let’s rock!

EDIT: Corrected several typos and fixed some of the writing.
Last edited by simanino on 28 Apr 2020 14:38, edited 1 time in total.
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Unread postby Diamond Dawg » 18 Oct 2019 08:57

I agree with the central point, that post-DMC1 Dante isn't cool, but I think that's because he isn't meant to be. How could he be cool? Nothing in the universe poses a threat to him after Mundus is sealed away in DMC1, there's no real challenges for him to overcome, so he clowns around in the background of DMC4 while Nero is the cool, serious protagonist. There's a reason why Nero is the main character of 4 and 5, while Dante gets trotted out for fan service in the latter halves.

simanino wrote:Itsuno failed in DMC2 with his overly serious and boring characterization of the hero. He got criticism for that, and then carelessly went in DMC3 for the opposite direction, serving us an absolute clown in the form of DMC3 Dante. It’s clear Itsuno either had no idea what coolness means, or didn’t want Dante to be cool anymore.


Itsuno was brought on very late into the development of DMC2, and the game wasn't originally meant to be a Devil May Cry game in the first place. So, I don't think it's fair to blame any of DMC2's characterization issues on Itsuno. As for DMC3, Dante is blatantly a self-destructive, suicidal brat with family issues, it never seemed to me like he was supposed to be all that cool.

simanino wrote:Therefore, what is the use of a so-called combat system that does not manifest itself on any real opponent, and is used instead to juggle around demonic punch bags? With the exception of Vergil and some other bosses, there’s practically no actual opponents in DMC3 forcing us to use our elaborate combat system, and the same more or less applies to DMC4, as far as Dante is concerned. It’s all flash.


To paraphrase Volteccer_Jack (someone who used to post here on Insomnia, and has written a bit on other forums about how DMC3 isn't what it's cracked up to be): DMC3 and DMC4 don't really have enemies to fight, they just have obstacles to jump-cancel on. They don't have complex combat systems, they have complex combo systems.

It's funny that in DMC5, there are several enemies that force you to play reactively and actually engage in some form of back-and-forth with, and the DMC3 and 4 autistic 30-minute combo video crowd complain nonstop about them lol.
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Re: Some thoughts on Devil May Cry’s Dante and on coolness

Unread postby simanino » 18 Oct 2019 14:28

Thanks for the reply.

Diamond Dawg wrote:How could he be cool? Nothing in the universe poses a threat to him after Mundus is sealed away in DMC1, there's no real challenges for him to overcome, so he clowns around in the background of DMC4 while Nero is the cool, serious protagonist. There's a reason why Nero is the main character of 4 and 5, while Dante gets trotted out for fan service in the latter halves.


Well, the teams responsible for the sequels might have thought, like you, that there was no longer any reason for Dante to be cool. But I say there was nothing stopping those teams from bringing Mundus back or some even tougher challenge for Dante to tackle, and to thus "force" him to be cool. That's disregarding the fact that a cool dude even needs to be "forced" to be cool, and would automatically resort to clownery out of boredom in case such an outside force was lacking. I mean, is having nothing to do a reason to act like a jester? Perhaps to a jester it is!

Diamond Dawg wrote:Itsuno was brought on very late into the development of DMC2, and the game wasn't originally meant to be a Devil May Cry game in the first place. So, I don't think it's fair to blame any of DMC2's characterization issues on Itsuno.


From what I remember he was hired to direct that game 6 months before its release? Because the game was supposedly a mess that needed urgent fixing? I agree with you that under those circumstances it would be tough to get the DMC vibe and the style of Dante right. But the fact remains that he, as the credited director of the game, failed. He could have very well felt ashamed to put his name there in credits. Why is the original DMC2 director, the guy who messed the game up, unknown? Itsuno agreed to be credited for the game, and the rest are excuses. I'm not even blaming him, because having a DMC in your CV must feel nice, I'm just stating the facts (if someone's to blame, it'd have to be some higher-up or other at Capcom... for not having treated the company's DMC IP with the respect it deserved). And another important fact is that people and the press criticized the overly serious and boring Dante seen in DMC2. I believe this criticism had an effect on his direction of DMC3 and its Dante, and helps explain the emergence of so much clownery in that game.

Diamond Dawg wrote:To paraphrase Volteccer_Jack (someone who used to post here on Insomnia, and has written a bit on other forums about how DMC3 isn't what it's cracked up to be): DMC3 and DMC4 don't really have enemies to fight, they just have obstacles to jump-cancel on. They don't have complex combat systems, they have complex combo systems.


I like that you mention Volteccer_Jack. His posts were often insightful and very pleasurable to read. It's possible that I read him expose the combat system back then (it's been a while...), and I love that we agree here.

Just some words regarding my background, which you might remember, but could be of use to other readers. I was just a kid back when those games came out, and I, too, jumped the DMC3 and DMC4 hype train in those years. I enjoyed the combos, the S-ranks... I even played DMC4 for score, lol (and even found a way to kind of cheat myself into the top ranks). I played those games, in sum, to the point of disgust. It was only after I played DMC1 again, years later, and was a tad more mature, as well as cognizant of icycalm's videogame theory, that I realized all the stuff I wrote above, and came to understand what it was that made me feel so attracted to the original DMC as kid.

Diamond Dawg wrote:It's funny that in DMC5, there are several enemies that force you to play reactively and actually engage in some form of back-and-forth with, and the DMC3 and 4 autistic 30-minute combo video crowd complain nonstop about them lol.


:D
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