Well, 4's romance story would not have really worked with Dante, and when you intro a new character who probably is going to be very important to the story lore, you can't make them someone who is on the sidelines. Otherwise...why introduce them at all if all they're going to do is just sit by, maybe do something important, but then be a cheerleader for Dante the rest of the time? We know Dante, we know what he's like, so...it's a change of pace that was good for bringing in new people, something new fotr the old guard, and you know they'll equalize it out since Dante is so popular. I'm hoping Nero gets his own game to himself, so we can find out more about him, a second DMC line while Dante has his.