My favorite DMC is the reboot one.
Alright guys, don't shoot! Let me explain.
First of all, I am totally aware DmC: Devil May Cry is not as good as previous installments of the original franchise, although I do think it's better than that pile of ****ty scrabble sets we got in the form of DMC4. In my opinion, the first DMC is the best so far, however the reason I favor the reboot over it's arguably better predecessors is the fact that we're presented with a progressive Dante here. I think that Antoniades did a better job at actually making Dante grow up, which has also been done by Itsuno in a more subtle way in Dante's Awakening. Something else Antoniades did better than Itsuno was the relationship between Vergil and Dante. It was more realistic, more heartwarming, more detailed. Just seeing them work together, it filled my insides with warmth.
About the rest of the franchise, I think the original one was the most enjoyable of them all. The difficulty was unforgiving, the characters were interesting and the combat system was a blast. It was overall fun.
DMC2 had interesting bosses, the combat was a slight improvement over the DMC1 combat and it featured what I believe the best Devil Trigger in the franchise. However, it had some drawbacks, like Dante's playful personality missing, some areas being too dark, the toned difficulty. Don't get me wrong; it was good, and I think all fans should give it a second chance/
Dante's Awakening was a blast. The combat system was significantly improved, the number of weapons you could use was acceptable, the difficulty was as challenging as one could handle, the bosses were awesome, some better than the others and the characters were very interesting, especially Vergil and young Dante. It was basically DMC going back to it's roots.
DMC4..was DMC3, only sillier, slightly less difficult, more cinematic, featured dull and oversexualized characters and the biggest flaw was that there was less combat. Seriously, I found myself more solving puzzles than kicking ass, which was a disappointment. The weapons were awesome though, the combat remained as satisfying and the Devil Trigger was very powerful. It made you feel like a god. I still think it was the worst of the series, though.