Capcom resent Dante as a character?

[Wolfwatching]

I know this is a bit inflammatory.

But I've often felt this is the case.

Capcom or those who work on Devil May Cry resent Dante being the main character of the Devil May Cry series because he was created by Kamiya who left the company.
They don't necessarily hate him, but they want him to be a side character, or put their own spin on him because they are working on a game with strong creators vision,
but the origin of that vision isn't there anymore.

Devil May Cry 2, they changed Dantes character and added a new main character.
Devil may Cry 3, they made him younger, didn't necessarily change him much but still it's a different spin
Devil may Cry 4, they added Nero, made you earn playing as Dante and gave him a kind of more gimmicky whacky personality
Devil may Cry 5, They have more focus on a whole cast of characters
DMC, completely different Dante

In general, I've always felt and still feel the version in DMC1 is something they aren't going back to, and in fact,I think they always considered him a bit too old and less relatable to a younger audience.

He's iconic as the protagonist for the series yet very often shares prominence. We'll never have him be the sole star like Beyonetta or Ryu in Ninja gaiden or something.

It's a similiar resentment to what Kojima displays with Solid Snake. MGS1 is so iconic, and in every game since there's a spin on Solid Snake, he's old, he's pliskin etc.

In that case there's a record of the reasons why he felt done with that character, first as he was too skilled and they wante dyou to see him through others eyes in MGS2
and because of fan demand Kojima gave them old snake as a kind of commentary on fatigue with Metal Gear.

There's no evidence for there being this being the case against Dante,

Only my feelings

So of course it's true.

What do you think?

 

[V's patron]

Capcom hates Dante?

I read somewhere that the first director of DMC2 disliked Kamiya's Dante + Bingo Moriashi don't like to write for Dante. And Itsuno wants to exclude Dante from the Story there is an interview with Itsuno in the manga Vision of V he says DMC5 is the story of Nico, V (ergil) Nero but he's not...

devilmaycry.org

We talked about that topic before. I don't think it's resentment plus I don't know any of the developers personally. So I wouldn't read that much into it.

I'm a writer myself and often the creative process is messy and experimental. Often creators are more interested in charting a new path than retreading old ground.

Most of these are experiments that just didn't for some fans.

For example- I like the idea of nero but I hated the execution.

I could say they are uncertain about what to do next but I don't know if that's unique to them. There's no guarantee we would've liked Kamiya's take on DMC2.

Granted DMC2 was a rushed game cobbled together from existing projects lying around. So atleast Kamiya's take on DMC2 would be more cohesive and less bare bones.

Dante achieves his life goal in the 1st game so an new path was always necessary. It just hasn't paid off yet as 5 is the only post 1 story i liked.

One thing I noticed about Japanese storytelling is that the characters tend to run out of steam pretty fast. So swapping leads tends to be my preffered method especially with Shonen anime.

So I'm fine with a new cast for DMC6 disconnected from the Sparda family drama.

If they wanna retire Dante, 5 is the best opportunity to me.

I got in with 3 but wasn't fond of 4 and the anime. So I'm hoping the upcoming Netflix series has a more appealing take. It's from the producer of Netflix's Castlevania so I'm optimistic.

It's another reboot but I'll take it if it's good.

 

[Wolfwatching]

One thing I noticed about Japanese storytelling is that the characters tend to run out of steam pretty fast. So swapping leads tends to be my preffered method especially with Shonen anime.

Yeah I suppose that's true, characters often tend to quickly either change a lot, or they become a kind of immortal being outside of the events of the story, like Ash Ketchum. Only in that they grow very slowly or become defined as always being this one thing. Or a character changes rapidly, like um... Shadow the hedgehog or something. Bad example, like Raiden in MGS.

Nero you could say has had some changes made to him too.

It's kind of a bit like Tekken with the Mishimas at the minute. I like 5 too though. I'd totally be up for a game set in the events between 3 and 1 though also, with young Dante.

Will probably give the show a chance.

 

[berto]

I've made a similar argument plenty of times. From what I've seen it's not that they don't like Dante but, rather, they don't know what to do with him. Nero came about because Dante is too OP. They wrote themselves into a corner and rather than take Dante down a few they started over with Nero. Itsuno's made note that he really respects Kamiya and loves DMC1 so it's hard for him to try to do anything with his character. This is why DMC3 was a prequel and DmC a reboot, do they could work with a free slate.

 

[V's patron]

I'm also not a fan with how Dante's like nowadays. "A bit" off topic, it feels like everyone, both fans and writers, all subconsciously give up on Dante. Writers felt reluctant to develop his character into something positive. Fans who like Dante from my observations, either they expressed pity for Dante's "depression" and happy that Dante got his family back so he is not "depressed" anymore, or they see Dante as a clown (wacky woohoo pizza blah blah) Rarely I see one actually judged the sht out of Dante's current state. Barely anyone thought Dante can move further with his development, even more than just his family problem. But strangely people seem to be more hopeful when it comes to Vergil, despite many villainous actions of his. Vergil has potential to grow, while Dante is whatever.

@Benny 'S comments in another thread felt more appropriate here.

DMC has potential but its characters suffers from diminishing returns. Everyone else but Vergil flounders.

Ironically the reboot could've been Dante's most interesting appearance but they didn't present it well and got cold feet. The final product circles around DMC3's era so it just feels like a wasted opportunity to me.

I'm hoping the new show can provide some more interesting material but time will tell.