DmC Missions Could Have Been Longer

[Ether0]

Hey guys am I the only one who feels that a few of DmC's missions should have been longer or that some of the missions like all the boss levels should have been at the end of the previous mission, or missions like the one where you get Angel Glide and Underwatch could have been combined. Or the mission where you go to the Order hideout under attack and the next mission where you help Kat escape could have been merged into the same mission?

 

[DankestDarkness]

That would be better but then the mission would be cut down by like half anyway it's just simple that they didnt want to put the effort to create missions like that so it could be extended in a cheap way like how the trade mission could have been a cutscene but they choose to put it as a mission just to have a extra mission

 

[Chancey289]

Considering on the type of game it is I honestly think DmC's length is just about perfect. Doesn't drag on anything and pretty much stays on track with the narrative with cutscenes that were woven in to it quite seamlessly. The structure since it was intentionally focusing or a stronger narrative emphasis was done just right and I wouldn't want the game to to throw in crap just to artificially lengthen it.

That is the grave mistake the lazy and pathetic DMC 4 made. There is no excuse whatsoever to throw in such obnoxious design choices because you are too lazy to actually work on a game. Time will never sweeten such a bs and stupid cop out tactics like repeating the same exact levels in reverse order and stupid board game mechanics to cause delay in such a linear game. Remember when Silent Hill 4 did sh!t like this? Yea, remember how that worked out? DmC is just right for a hack n slash action adventure game. Doesn't over do it that it doesn't feel like a chore to you when you go back and replay the game which is the idea of what these type of games usually design themselves around of.

 

[crush]

snip

One of the questions I have about DMC4 is why Nero doesn't deactivate the hell-gates?
Or take the devil arms? it's plain wierd...
I agree the missions are enough, 20 is quite a lot. ButI think they should have added more about Vergil and how Dante grows to change his hedonistic ideal.

 

[SpawnShooter]

One of the questions I have about DMC4 is why Nero doesn't deactivate the hell-gates?
Or take the devil arms? it's plain wierd...
I agree the missions are enough, 20 is quite a lot. ButI think they should have added more about Vergil and how Dante grows to change his hedonistic ideal.

They are "cultural artifacts" and likely he doesn't know how to de-activate them. He probably assumes they are open because of Dante and that stopping him will close them.

With level design I agree backtracking isn't fun, but it's nowhere near as bad as people claim in DMC4. The levels all change in a specific way and you have a new char to play with. Thinking about it with regards to DmCs mission length, there's prob about the same amount of "original content" in both games. It's just in DMC4 there's backtracking and DmC there are whole missions dedicated to boss battles + the trade mission.

 

[Marionette Cherry]

I didn't have a problem with this game's length I guess. Devil May Cry (2001) had some really short levels and no one minded them.

 

[SpawnShooter]

I didn't have a problem with this game's length I guess. Devil May Cry (2001) had some really short levels and no one minded them.

I think the content of the missions is more important than length. My main gripe with DMC4 for example is there are no good Dante missions (barring the beginning of 12 and 17) that you can practice with him without some kind of annoyance (time limits, bad enemies, gas that drains health)

 

[Marionette Cherry]

That's true. There wasn't really anything pace breaking in the first game.

I thought the invisible platforms leading to the quicksilver key broke the pace in mission 17, but then I found out you can just jump straight up to the quicksilver key with Air Hike without doing any platforming.

 

[crush]

They are "cultural artifacts" and likely he doesn't know how to de-activate them. He probably assumes they are open because of Dante and that stopping him will close them.

With level design I agree backtracking isn't fun, but it's nowhere near as bad as people claim in DMC4. The levels all change in a specific way and you have a new char to play with. Thinking about it with regards to DmCs mission length, there's prob about the same amount of "original content" in both games. It's just in DMC4 there's backtracking and DmC there are whole missions dedicated to boss battles + the trade mission.

Ahh...now I understand, thanks Spawnshooter.
So possibly Nero thought he would need a permit to take it down or somehow I guess.

 

[Rayl]

I thought the invisible platforms leading to the quicksilver key broke the pace in mission 17, but then I found out you can just jump straight up to the quicksilver key with Air Hike without doing any platforming.

I still do the invisible platforms despite knowing that, i'm just weird that way i guess.

The missions in DMC games tend to be around 20 or so, so when the missions were developed they probably just split them all to make up a rough number instead of having them make much sense in their pacing, DMC1 is pretty guilty on this as some missions will last about 30 seconds with others taking a LOT longer as has been stated.

But in saying that, if some missions in DmC were combined i'd more then likely start getting bored, wondering when the damn mission will end so it does itself well enough there.

 

[Chancey289]

They are "cultural artifacts" and likely he doesn't know how to de-activate them. He probably assumes they are open because of Dante and that stopping him will close them.

With level design I agree backtracking isn't fun, but it's nowhere near as bad as people claim in DMC4. The levels all change in a specific way and you have a new char to play with. Thinking about it with regards to DmCs mission length, there's prob about the same amount of "original content" in both games. It's just in DMC4 there's backtracking and DmC there are whole missions dedicated to boss battles + the trade mission.

DmC has the most originality in the series most of all though. Mainly talking about the aesthetics and overall design. The art direction is absolutely incredible and probably the most memorable visuals I've seen in a video game in recent memory. Only other games would be Journey for being absolutely stunning and The Walking Dead for really capturing the comic book style perfectly. (talking in a more recent sense)

The last thing Devil May Cry ever did was take any kind of creative liberties because everything in that game is lifted from something else. It's kind of like Halo. The setting is nothing special at it fits just as well with a Castlevania game and characters are definitely nothing to write home about. Dante is obviously Alucard and Cobra if they maybe did a fushion dance and the overall plots are nothing to get excited about. DMC 3 is a shameless rip off of Inuyasha.

I'm not saying DmC's story is any better but it also isn't any worse. The narrative is definitely stronger in DmC than any other game out of the bunch by sheer presentation alone with the best voice performances in the series to date. The heavy over the top social satire also pays homage to Devil May Cry's natural absurdity which makes DmC also strike me as the most self aware of the bunch. It knows exactly what it is. Devil May Cry kind of had a thing where it couldn't figure out what it wanted to do. Like half the devs wanted to stay silly and the others wanted to get serious and they met each other half way. It's why you have such a change on tone from a game like Devil May Cry 1 to 2 then 3.

Overall, the one thing Devil May Cry never could grasp was consistency making the reboot no different to this trend. Why people flipped so goddamn much is beyond me. Overall, it's still Devil May Cry at the end of the day. Just instead of the generic anime wallpaper we have the most contemporary setting. I'm not saying it's the best thing I've ever seen but it sure as hell isn't any worse so it isn't a big deal to me. I think the fanatical fans give Devil May Cry, of all video game series, way more credit than it deserves.

Look the original game is still my favorite out of them all and I think it's the best. DmC though does get more hate than it deserves. It surpasses the originals in aspects and it was a step in the right direction for this series pushing 12 years old that honestly did nothing fresh or interesting as the years went on. DMC 4 has a solid combat system but the overall package is pathetic, lazy, and awful.

It deserves no excuse as it was an obvious cash grab and nothing more to milk the Devil May Cry brand. Prime example of a series being pushed through the ringer. A lot of people were p!ssed dropping 60 bones on a game that was a waste of freaking time that sure as hell didn't live up to the expectation that was expected after DMC 3. It was utterly submitted to the narrow minded anime fans who think everything from Japan is the superior everything. And even those annoying little f*ckers deserved better.

Capcom obviously doesn't care about Dante or Devil May Cry. Hand it off to someone else then Capcom and f*ck off. NT at least went forth with creative confidence despite being bashed by one of the worst video gaming fandoms out there at every turn. I'm all for something called creative integrity. The final product was not as bad as the fanatical fans try to make it out to be. In no way shape or form. The first is still the best to me, but DmC is NOT a bad game nor a terrible Devil May Cry and I think I know what Devil May Cry is all about mores so than most. I've been with this series since the demo showed up with Code Veronica. DmC deserves to continue at least for now. I want to see a more polished DmC next instead of reverting back to the previous series so soon. If it does revert, then you know Capcom is just selling out and I don't know if I'd play it at all, good or bad.

Ambition shows you have soul.

 

[SpawnShooter]

Snip.

Can't say I agree with much of that personally, then again I am one of those "fanatic fans" you love. Though I agree DMC4s narrative wasn't well presented, but I feel that's more to do with how little exposition there was rather than it having a bad story.

May I ask, apart from backtracking some of the game why do you feel it was lazy and such a bad game? I would also like to tackle your anime disdain of DMC4 when it was very similar in tone to 3 (so just trying to stick to continuity) I would also like to ask what elements exactly make it like an anime?

I've only played DMC since I played 4 in 2010, I never played the DMC1 demo back in the day so I don't know much about the series ;D

 

[Chancey289]

Can't say I agree with much of that personally, then again I am one of those "fanatic fans" you love. Though I agree DMC4s narrative wasn't well presented, but I feel that's more to do with how little exposition there was rather than it having a bad story.

May I ask, apart from backtracking some of the game why do you feel it was lazy and such a bad game? I would also like to tackle your anime disdain of DMC4 when it was very similar in tone to 3 (so just trying to stick to continuity) I would also like to ask what elements exactly make it like an anime?

I've only played DMC since I played 4 in 2010, I never played the DMC1 demo back in the day so I don't know much about the series ;D

It's full of so many obnoxious and stupid design choices. For example there's this stupid bored game mechanic that gets introduced multiple times that is just pointless delay. Considering on how linear the games already were anyway it's only to artificially lengthen the game because they were totally out of ideas. Also the stupid jumping puzzles with fixed camera angles that spawn enemies ever time you fall is total tedious and annoying BS! DMC 4 is stretched paper thin just squeezing out leftovers from what they thought makes the series good and overall it was like someone tried to piece together the game with scotch tape. They half assed it all the way through and it should have been better. Before this was DMC 3, they set the bar and didn't even bother to freaking reach it.

About the whole anime thing, it's just typical generic anime trends without an ounce of originality whatsoever. I love anime. I'm an avid anime fan. But I like good ones that don't follow your typical anime flare. Look at Bleach for example, the background characters are more interesting than generic stupid d0uche you're supposed to be rooting for who's front and center. Devil May Cry began to use nothing but the trends that make anime typical and bland. Especially when most of the things Devil May Cry rips off is also more interesting than itself. They were never even trying to make a distinct identity for the game when it came to games like 3 and 4 story wise.

Anime still falls in line and also still can suffer from the same exact thing other animation properties can succumb to as well as anything else because they are part of the same entertainment medium. Anime and cartoons are the SAME EXACT THING so I don't even bother to separate them and judge them as they are.

Devil May Cry for one also doesn't make an interesting show. The actual show that came out totally sucked anyway. The reason why I think the first game is still the best because when Dante shows up you can give him the credit for being his own dude as he was cocky but also wasn't in your face about it and it wasn't as annoying and retarded like he was in 3 and 4. There wasn't much too him to be honest but you can get the general idea the kind of thing DMC was trying to get going for itself. At the time it felt fresh. Dante as a character when the years went on only got more and more generic and cliche and did his quirks to absolute death. He far from the golden boy the fanboys think he is. I don't think the DmC version is any worse because he's still virtually the same.

There was never much to Dante to begin with and you can't go any more shallow than he already was. I don't hate him but he's just there. He's the dude you play as and doesn't deserve any particular kind of mind. Skip the cutscenes and just play the game because Dante will not impress anyone. I can buy intentional cheese and dig it but Dante doesn't do this the best because Capcom feels the need to change him every time he shows up anyway. When Dante showed up in DmC he looked different. You have no right to be shocked people and I just didn't freaking care. When I saw the reveal trailer for DmC anime fanboys flipped their sh!t and I felt like the only fan who went "Devil May Cry is changing it up? Finally. About time you make an interesting move Dante." And as a big fan of this franchise my reaction to the brown hair Dante was more so like this

 

[crush]

About the whole anime thing, it's just typical generic anime trends without an ounce of originality whatsoever. I love anime. I'm an avid anime fan. But I like good ones that don't follow your typical anime flare. Look at Bleach for example, the background characters are more interesting than generic stupid d0uche you're supposed to be rooting for who's front and center. Devil May Cry began to use nothing but the trends that make anime typical and bland. Especially when most of the things Devil May Cry rips off is also more interesting than itself. They were never even trying to make a distinct identity for the game when it came to games like 3 and 4 story wise.

Psst! You should stop talking about the Protagonist who won against Aizen because the author didn't have the brain cells to imagine it! Erm...it's darn obvious that he makes his characters first and makes the whole plot afterwards.

 

[Chancey289]

Psst! You should stop talking about the Protagonist who won against Aizen because the author didn't have the brain cells to imagine it! Erm...it's darn obvious that he makes his characters first and makes the whole plot afterwards.

With background characters that are more interesting than Ichigo himself. Kenpachi is my favorite character in that show because he seems pretty badass but then again probably the original idea for that series would have been better than what it is today. Rukia was originally going to be the main character and Ichigo didn't exist until last minute. The only thing I really like about Ichigo was that he's voiced by my favorite Power Ranger in the show.

 

[Ether0]

That would be better but then the mission would be cut down by like half anyway it's just simple that they didnt want to put the effort to create missions like that so it could be extended in a cheap way like how the trade mission could have been a cutscene but they choose to put it as a mission just to have a extra mission

Well I actually liked that the trade mission was not just a cutscene since it was one of the more unique levels in the game, just could have been longer like a good chunk of the other levels.

 

[Ether0]

They are "cultural artifacts" and likely he doesn't know how to de-activate them. He probably assumes they are open because of Dante and that stopping him will close them.

With level design I agree backtracking isn't fun, but it's nowhere near as bad as people claim in DMC4. The levels all change in a specific way and you have a new char to play with. Thinking about it with regards to DmCs mission length, there's prob about the same amount of "original content" in both games. It's just in DMC4 there's backtracking and DmC there are whole missions dedicated to boss battles + the trade mission.

Idk I recently replayed DMC4 and found the reverse missions to still be awful and infuriating and yes they changed a small bit but not in a significant enough way to justify their existence. I think it has more to do with mismanagement of dev time than simple laziness, although that factors into it as well

 

[Blazer-X]

Like SpawnShooter mentions, the backtrack missions of DMC4 are bad because they add another layer of annoying artificial difficulty, rather than something interesting. The Dante missions more or less sucks because you don't get many chances to properly play around with his weapons during the most of 12, 13, 14, and 16. You're too busy being stuck with a stupid timer, a pointless warping puzzle, stupid octopi, and poison gas. 15 is almost literally replaying the level with different rooms linked together, leaving 17 as the only "unique" backtrack mission because you're now fighting on the ground instead of ceilings.

In that regard, DmC did much better by not including backtracking for the most part. Yes, the Virility Factory "foretracking" in the beginning could get a bit annoying after the first time around because you can't move any faster and the story exposition already served its purpose. But other than that, almost everything is new, and it's nice to see that for a change, especially when you consider that every DMC game before this had backtracking.

As for the original topic of this thread: yes and no. Some missions could and should have been longer. Mission 3 (where you get dash) and 15 (the trade) comes to mind here. I would say especially 15 because we could have seen even more of Mundus's power if the mission had a couple more "save car from world ending around it" sequences. Mission 18 could have also been a bit more than just one puzzle for the last non-boss mission of the game. I also would not have minded if mission 19 lets you fight Mundus alongside Vergil for longer than about 5 minutes before he gets taken in.

However, some missions would just be a test of endurance if they got any longer. Mission 17 (Furnace of Souls) is perhaps the most annoying mission in the game because the player can't zip past it even if he wants to. If it lasted any longer than it already does, I would have rage-quited on HoH and HaH. Mission 2, 5, 7, 11, and 16 are also plenty long enough as they are.

Overall, I'd say DmC hit a pretty good balance in terms of length. Some missions could have been longer, but most are about just right.