[FrozenParticle]

I've heard the term "Douche Nukem" quite a lot on this forum and I always wanted to know what it meant to people personally. Which moments of any Duke game do you think is "Douche Nukem" like? Is it all in DNF? How do you think the character went from Duke Nukem to Douche Nukem? Let me know. This is a post all about the phrase "Douche Nukem".

[PsychoGoatee]

It's something fans who don't like the characterization/humor of DNF say on here. Personally to me, Duke is Duke in that game, all king. Douche is not a word I'd use to describe the character. Granted there's one particular insensitive joke he makes when his gal pals get impregnated by aliens that had a long topic here, and I agree that line is odd/clunky/not the best choice.

But overall, I think his characterization is a devil-may-care groovy dude as ever. Who does get angry when the aliens steal his babes and stuff early on. It's just Duke Nukem, in a somewhat more cartoony adventure. Maybe they also don't like that he's rich and enjoying a celebrity lifestyle with lots of women etc during the peaceful time, I'm not sure. Though he was a celebrity before as well, it was less focused on.

[FrozenParticle]

PsychoGoatee, on 03 September 2016 - 01:43 AM, said:

It's something fans who don't like the characterization/humor of DNF say on here. Personally to me, Duke is Duke in that game, all king. Douche is not a word I'd use to describe the character. Granted there's one particular insensitive joke he makes when his gal pals get impregnated by aliens that had a long topic here, and I agree that line is odd/clunky/not the best choice.

But overall, I think his characterization is a devil-may-care groovy dude as ever. Who does get angry when the aliens steal his babes and stuff early on. It's just Duke Nukem, in a somewhat more cartoony adventure. Maybe they also don't like that he's rich and enjoying a celebrity lifestyle with lots of women etc during the peaceful time, I'm not sure. Though he was a celebrity before as well, it was less focused on.

Duke 3D's characterization of Duke Nukem really worked due to it being mostly caused by the environment around him. What's great about that game is that he doesn't need to say anything to know he loves women (for example), he goes to a strip club and we can figure out the rest from there. Then in Lunar Apocalypse it gets further elaborated on in the plot. In Duke Nukem Forever's case, I feel like a little too much dialogue was there in the game. The characterization was okay and I had no problem with it, it's just I felt that there was no reason for him to be saying stuff at times.

[deuxsonic]

That was something that confused me. He's in the hive and he doesn't seem to give a shit when I thought the capturing of women would put him into a rage. Every Duke game after Duke3d had babes that usually you could rescue or Duke would at least take notice of. Why not have this in DNF as well?

[necroslut]

The DNF cover art. That is "Douche Nukem" right there. You can tell just by looking at him he's a fucking prick.

PsychoGoatee, on 03 September 2016 - 01:43 AM, said:

It's something fans who don't like the characterization/humor of DNF say on here. Personally to me, Duke is Duke in that game, all king. Douche is not a word I'd use to describe the character. Granted there's one particular insensitive joke he makes when his gal pals get impregnated by aliens that had a long topic here, and I agree that line is odd/clunky/not the best choice.

But overall, I think his characterization is a devil-may-care groovy dude as ever. Who does get angry when the aliens steal his babes and stuff early on. It's just Duke Nukem, in a somewhat more cartoony adventure. Maybe they also don't like that he's rich and enjoying a celebrity lifestyle with lots of women etc during the peaceful time, I'm not sure. Though he was a celebrity before as well, it was less focused on.

I always read the "you're fucked" line as not Duke making a joke, but saying something that would to the audience be funny. Like he wasn't aware of the double meaning.

I think a lot of the confusion around the hive level was that people had forgotten how much of an horror element there was in Duke 3D. And with DNF's messy, all over the place tone, I guess the hive - which in many ways was the part of DNF that reminded me the most of D3D - stuck out. And not only did it hit people with surprise, but they read things as supposed to be funny or sexy, which really wasn't necessarily. Duke 3D wasn't Conker's Bad Fur Day no matter how much people remember it as such.

deuxsonic, on 03 September 2016 - 04:02 AM, said:

That was something that confused me. He's in the hive and he doesn't seem to give a shit when I thought the capturing of women would put him into a rage. Every Duke game after Duke3d had babes that usually you could rescue or Duke would at least take notice of. Why not have this in DNF as well?

The post-3D Duke games were non-serious, non-canon mostly comedy-based spinoffs, often aimed at a younger audience. Good or bad, they don't really "count". Though it would have been nice to be able to save someone every now and then.
(Well actually there is one EDF grunt you can save)
Why do you think he doesn't give a damn? Does he have to comment on everything? If "Duke" sees something terrible, and doesn't comment, I interpret that as him thinking what I'm thinking.

[MusicallyInspired]

Douche Nukem is exactly what the DNF Duke model looks like. Spiked gelled hair instead of a brush cut, non-Rayband sunglasses, black trim-lined sleeveless red shirt (as opposed to just an old red wife-beater), and his 20-something age features. He looks like a frat boy. He doesn't look like Duke. He looks preppy, not rugged. He looks like he's full of himself in the wrong ways. They've turned his outfit and looks into a "Duke Uniform" of sorts when it's just supposed to be just clothes. My problem isn't so much with what he says or does as how he looks.

[necroslut]

MusicallyInspired, on 03 September 2016 - 09:11 AM, said:

Douche Nukem is exactly what the DNF Duke model looks like. Spiked gelled hair instead of a brush cut, non-Rayband sunglasses, black trim-lined sleeveless red shirt (as opposed to just an old red wife-beater), and his 20-something age features. He looks like a frat boy. He doesn't look like Duke. He looks preppy, not rugged. He looks like he's full of himself in the wrong ways. They've turned his outfit and looks into a "Duke Uniform" of sorts when it's just supposed to be just clothes. My problem isn't so much with what he says or does as how he looks.

Indeed they should never have changed his design/model. Older DNF Duke was badass. Like Die Hard Bruce Willis.

[KaijuTurtle]

The DNF box art really does exemplify the entire issue. It's this sort of personality that gearbox attributes to Duke, like you see on their new social media accounts for the series:
https://twitter.com/...085550799482880

https://twitter.com/...753266858356736

[spessu_sb]

Trikeen, on 03 September 2016 - 04:35 PM, said:

The DNF box art really does exemplify the entire issue. It's this sort of personality that gearbox attributes to Duke, like you see on their new social media accounts for the series:
https://twitter.com/...085550799482880

https://twitter.com/...753266858356736

That is not really a good direction if that's indicative of what Duke 5 will be

[Zummone]

FrozenParticle, on 03 September 2016 - 02:00 AM, said:

Duke 3D's characterization of Duke Nukem really worked due to it being mostly caused by the environment around him. What's great about that game is that he doesn't need to say anything to know he loves women (for example), he goes to a strip club and we can figure out the rest from there. Then in Lunar Apocalypse it gets further elaborated on in the plot. In Duke Nukem Forever's case, I feel like a little too much dialogue was there in the game. The characterization was okay and I had no problem with it, it's just I felt that there was no reason for him to be saying stuff at times.

I want to second this, most of the charm of 3D's Duke is him being this stoic "above everyone else" figure that just doesn't give a damn and wants to blow stuff up and have a good time, while he seems generally more involved and "predictably human" in DNF, that's why he may come off as douchey, it's one side of his character blown out of proportion. Maybe I'm just finding something to hate and it's just the cover, but I see what you mean.