Devil May Cry (Reboot) Your Thoughts?

[Alistair Deoiridh]

Well, from my prospective at first, I didn't much care for the fact the storyline universe had been changed adversely, in fact, I was somewhat content with it; but once I began to actually dive deeper into the reboot, I started to reconsider. Felt hollow to me, didn't seem to have ground for it to walk on after the first few steps. This was largely in conjunction to what else they changed, and that was specifically, Donte's origin. He was half angel, half demon; this decision was perhaps one of the most less thought out concepts I've seen since Nero, and was simply added by the dev's as some bid to make Dante unique, whilst attempted to be rationalized as to make Donte an outsider to the "three worlds" (humanity, demonic, angelic). The concept of dividing his origins would've actually worked for me if they've divulged a bit deeper into each respective world; honestly, the result they ended up with kinda left me feeling Donte had no trace of a real identity - broke the immersion for me and led to me simply bull rushing enemies without felling a sense of connection to the world around me. I see that was their goal, but at least in my opinion, they pulled it off terribly and for all the wrong reasons.

 

[Grey]

I enjoyed it. It was a surprisingly clever game - very well designed, mechanically, with great sound, great visuals. Voice acting wasn't bad. Writing was pretty solid - self-aware, but treating things with just the right amount of internally-consistent severity (with some small exceptions).


Dante's lack of identity seemed intentional to give his character room for growth; I imagine we'll see it expanded on if the franchise continues.


The gnostic subtext was just icing.

 

[Ixacise]

It flopped so hard it sent the franchise to the room where the rotting corpses of Megaman, Breath of fire, every none SF fighter, Maximo, and others reside.


As it's own entity is was mediocre which in layman's terms means kinda shit. As Ninja Thoery's technical improficiency affected it like every other game they released. Or really dumb design decisions like the color coded enemy bullshit, super easy grading system, or the very exploitable demon dodge.


Now there's a re-release of the game that came out not too long ago along with an incoming re-release of DMC4 which is Capcom being really transparent in combining some easy money making along with fishing for which direction to pick and make a sequel for. Now the re-release purports to fix a bunch of stuff people complained about the original, but at this point I don't think it matters. Plus there's going to be more people getting the DMC4: Super turbo omega strike tournament edition because ultimately it leads to the path of Vergil both in terms of the plot points related to him as well as getting to play him with a properly developed move list as opposed to the one in the third re-release which was fun but ultimately was limited in what it could.

 

[ComradeSenpai]

It wasn't very good. The new game didn't understand the original's roots and what made it good; I mean this as far as both gameplay and writing.


Let's start with the gameplay itself. Removal of the lock-on was a big mistake, because DmC was a mimicry of DMC's combat. Games can function with a soft lock; Ninja Gaiden does it off the top of my head, but that was designed around not needing a hard lock. Moreover, the lock-on in DMC essentially locked Dante into a 2D plane, enabling back and forward directional attacks as you'd see in a fighting game. In DMC3, the Nevan also had left and right based attacks. This meant they could have basic combo strings for the neutral stance, and up to four more directional attacks all mapped to the triangle button. With DmC's lack of lock-on, the only moves you could do were the basic combo strings and Stinger. That means that moves like High Time were delegated to the Circle button. In other words, you had fewer moves spread across more buttons. Additionally, the game was too easy. The enemies all telegraphed their attacks way too hard and weren't aggressive. The game also removed Styles, which was a huge blow to gameplay. Dante was able to shoot in two directions and use especially crazy attacks like throwing his sword and twirling a shotgun like a nunchaku. Donte can't do that.


Aesthetically, it's hit and miss. Mostly miss. Donte lacks the style of his predecessor, and looks too grungy and dirty, like they tossed a long coat on some trashy guy. Because of this, he's less recognizable. The weapons were absolutely poorly designed. Rebellion, for example, looks really generic. It's like some low-level sword you'd see in a JRPG. Old Rebellion was wider, with a notched blade, which gave it weight, and the skeleton design made it stand out without being overdesigned. The same goes for his handguns; new Ebony and Ivory are


supposed to look "ancient and powerful" but are clearly based off the Desert Eagle. The grips look weird, and it shoots conventional bullets despite not having anywhere to place a magazine. Classic E&I were heavily modified 1911's, but actually a functional design in real life, provided you had the money. Some of the environments looked okay.


The writing was full of plot holes.


If Donte's mom was an angel, what connection does he have to humanity?


Why did Mundus kill Eva but let Donte live?


If there were angels, where were they the entire game? Shouldn't they be concerned that the Demon King is ruling the human realm?


Why did Vorgil send Donte on those missions? He fought Donte at the end, so he must have thought he was stronger, so in that case, why hire Donte at all?


What was the point of the pendants if they're never implied to be important?


Why did a random statue give Donte his Devil Trigger?


Where was Sparda kept if not in the same prison as Phineas?


If Mundus was immortal, why did he need an heir?


What was the point of Kat? I feel like she didn't do anything important that couldn't have been delegated to Vorgil. I mean she convinced Donte not to kill his brother, but he could have had that revelation on his own.


How does one "control the world through debt"? I'm not sure a corporation can even GET the government into debt. Like, what did Mundus sell the Fed? And even if they drove Obama to that level of desperation, it'd be more likely that they'd just frame the company for embezzling or whatever and bankrupt it.


Why did Donte's hair turn white at the end? Why was Vorgil's white from birth?


Why did Mundus bring relative stability if he wanted to harvest human souls?


What did he gain from harvesting them?


Where did Donte get E&I?


Why did new weapons just materialize in Donte's hands when he killed the Slurm Queen and the O'Reily Factor guy?


Why do Blue Roses make Donte get new powers?


Why was it a good end for Donte and Vorgil to merge the human and demon realms? Wouldn't that unleash limitless hordes upon an unsuspecting public? I mean it was right in the middle of a city, and demons are hard to fight, so the casualties had to be through the roof. Even during the final boss you can see in the background that the city got torn up, and I think that was JUST from fighting Mundus. In fact I think it would be easier for the demons to rule the world through force and merging the demon realm than it would be through subterfuge and economics.


How did Vorgil intend to rule the world? He had no way of manipulating people and the existing infrastructure set up by Mundus waas destroyed.


If Mundus can control the city at will, why didn't he just wait until Donte went indoors and then just crush him?

 

[Alistair Deoiridh]

It wasn't very good. The new game didn't understand the original's roots and what made it good; I mean this as far as both gameplay and writing.
Let's start with the gameplay itself. Removal of the lock-on was a big mistake, because DmC was a mimicry of DMC's combat. Games can function with a soft lock; Ninja Gaiden does it off the top of my head, but that was designed around not needing a hard lock. Moreover, the lock-on in DMC essentially locked Dante into a 2D plane, enabling back and forward directional attacks as you'd see in a fighting game. In DMC3, the Nevan also had left and right based attacks. This meant they could have basic combo strings for the neutral stance, and up to four more directional attacks all mapped to the triangle button. With DmC's lack of lock-on, the only moves you could do were the basic combo strings and Stinger. That means that moves like High Time were delegated to the Circle button. In other words, you had fewer moves spread across more buttons. Additionally, the game was too easy. The enemies all telegraphed their attacks way too hard and weren't aggressive. The game also removed Styles, which was a huge blow to gameplay. Dante was able to shoot in two directions and use especially crazy attacks like throwing his sword and twirling a shotgun like a nunchaku. Donte can't do that.


Aesthetically, it's hit and miss. Mostly miss. Donte lacks the style of his predecessor, and looks too grungy and dirty, like they tossed a long coat on some trashy guy. Because of this, he's less recognizable. The weapons were absolutely poorly designed. Rebellion, for example, looks really generic. It's like some low-level sword you'd see in a JRPG. Old Rebellion was wider, with a notched blade, which gave it weight, and the skeleton design made it stand out without being overdesigned. The same goes for his handguns; new Ebony and Ivory are


supposed to look "ancient and powerful" but are clearly based off the Desert Eagle. The grips look weird, and it shoots conventional bullets despite not having anywhere to place a magazine. Classic E&I were heavily modified 1911's, but actually a functional design in real life, provided you had the money. Some of the environments looked okay.


The writing was full of plot holes.


If Donte's mom was an angel, what connection does he have to humanity?


Why did Mundus kill Eva but let Donte live?


If there were angels, where were they the entire game? Shouldn't they be concerned that the Demon King is ruling the human realm?


Why did Vorgil send Donte on those missions? He fought Donte at the end, so he must have thought he was stronger, so in that case, why hire Donte at all?


What was the point of the pendants if they're never implied to be important?


Why did a random statue give Donte his Devil Trigger?


Where was Sparda kept if not in the same prison as Phineas?


If Mundus was immortal, why did he need an heir?


What was the point of Kat? I feel like she didn't do anything important that couldn't have been delegated to Vorgil. I mean she convinced Donte not to kill his brother, but he could have had that revelation on his own.


How does one "control the world through debt"? I'm not sure a corporation can even GET the government into debt. Like, what did Mundus sell the Fed? And even if they drove Obama to that level of desperation, it'd be more likely that they'd just frame the company for embezzling or whatever and bankrupt it.


Why did Donte's hair turn white at the end? Why was Vorgil's white from birth?


Why did Mundus bring relative stability if he wanted to harvest human souls?


What did he gain from harvesting them?


Where did Donte get E&I?


Why did new weapons just materialize in Donte's hands when he killed the Slurm Queen and the O'Reily Factor guy?


Why do Blue Roses make Donte get new powers?


Why was it a good end for Donte and Vorgil to merge the human and demon realms? Wouldn't that unleash limitless hordes upon an unsuspecting public? I mean it was right in the middle of a city, and demons are hard to fight, so the casualties had to be through the roof. Even during the final boss you can see in the background that the city got torn up, and I think that was JUST from fighting Mundus. In fact I think it would be easier for the demons to rule the world through force and merging the demon realm than it would be through subterfuge and economics.


How did Vorgil intend to rule the world? He had no way of manipulating people and the existing infrastructure set up by Mundus waas destroyed.


If Mundus can control the city at will, why didn't he just wait until Donte went indoors and then just crush him?

Pretty much nailed everything else I was thinking of.

 

[Ammy]

I can't say anything that already hasn't been stated much more eloquently by another user. Not a fan of it either. Played through the PS3 release when I got it from PS+, refuse to spend the cash on the Definitive Edition when so many good games are nearby.


All I will say is; I am really, really going to miss the Vergilmobile.

Now there's a re-release of the game that came out not too long ago along with an incoming re-release of DMC4 which is Capcom being really transparent in combining some easy money making along with fishing for which direction to pick and make a sequel for.

Yup. The dreaded Capcom Test, which they never look at properly and come to conclusions that make any sense. RE4 Wii selling a surprising amount of units leading into an extremely bad port of Dead Rising and two lightgun games is the most noticable example, but there's plenty more.


Even if DMC4 Definitive Edition sells well (spoiler: it won't by their standards) I'm sure they'll use it as a justification to try and push some silly nonsense nobody really wanted. ~_~


 

Donte lacks the style of his predecessor, and looks too grungy and dirty, like they tossed a long coat on some trashy guy.

Not sure if intentional, but you nailed it super hard there. The guy on the left is the director of DmC's original release. The arrogance behind this decision is still absolutely mind-boggling to me.

 

[angrymonkeysmash]

I think they should have marketed it as what it was... a crappy made prequel. Though, I think the game is so so... Its still no where near as bad as DmC2..... That game doesn't exist to me.... O_o


And what about all the nudity.... Are games starting to use nudity to trick people into thinking they are good... like movies and tv? Could have lived without that... Just saying.

 

[NovaPheonix]

I played a bit of DMC 3 and a good chunk of DMC 4, and the demo of the new DMC...and I think that the gameplay itself is actually fairly solid. I mean, the story is a mess and was pretty poorly presented for the most part and some of it just plain makes me sick.


I would still rather that they continue the series in some sort of form rather than just letting it die out or something.