and like that thread that Foxtrot mentioned, I still hold true to that opinon;
Personally DMC3 wasn't my most favorite version of classic Dante, but to say he had absolutely NO maturity would be missing a bit of his story. Dante DID do a little bit of growth in the game, but I guess they didn't want a repeat of DMC2, to which I say that more falls on the writers not knowing how to create the balance that Kamiya and co. did while doing DMC1 Dante. But in DMC3, Dante did go from being a party-loving frat boy, to a party-loving frat boy who grows a conscience for others as oppose to just carrying about himself.
And ask for DmC, Dante, now that I've mellowed out of the bias fanboyism of DmC and can look at it objectively, I can say that I did over-exaggerate a few things about him in the past.
Dante's character change does go on through out the game, however it's actually pretty small and almost easy to miss, which I believe falls on the writers. Also in writing for Dante in my fanfic "Dead or Alive 5: Damned Spirit" I've begun to see Dante differently then I have before.
In the beginning, Dante was mostly a Jersey Shore kind of guy, but less douchey and more loner. He had lived years of his life fighting demons and meeting distrusting people. Nine times out of ten, when he did trust someone in the past, they probably betrayed him or died. As such he had no trust in anyone, and his literal care for humans diminished.
So think about going 15 or 16 years fighting demons and everyone you think you can trust is out to get you or will double-cross you. How could one suddenly expect any trust out of some random hooded girl with a past like that.
But Dante took a gamble since he had no other choice in the matter, and went with her to meet Vergil. Again, the trust issues make it difficult for Dante to even consider working with them to the point that he believes it's all crap. Dante's arrogance and ignorance comes from the deteriorating disinterest in humanity since humanity screwed him over many times before.
Now for this, I wish NT had delved deeper into this so that we could get a feel for why he's such a bastard. The most we got out of it was him saying "he had trust issues" and in that flashback sequence where he says "when the people you're suppose to trust most turn out to be demon scum, your eyes really do open up to evil everywhere."
So he finally goes into his old home and discovers just what kind of up bringing he had. He actually found out he had a family that was ripped from him. There were people who loved him; something he hadn't had in almost 15 years. It was a very eye-opening experience for Dante that there was actual love for him. But he was also angry that it was taken from him by Mundus. Thus, this was what made him realize that he could trust his brother because, well, he's his brother, and that this cause he was creating was something Dante wanted to get behind solely for vengeance.
It wasn't until the journey started that Dante saw the struggles of humanity and had a conscience for human life. The time he spent with Kat as she began to open up about her life with the demons, along with the struggles humans were going through that they sadly had no idea of, made Dante realize that all those double-crosses and such may not have ALL been out of hatred for him, but because of the demons. It's after Kat told Dante of her abuse to the demons that Dante decided he would make the world right again for Kat, and the humans who suffered like her. It's the reason why, during the 7th mission on his way to Barbas, that he looks up at the trapped souls and mutters "poor bastards".
The thing about this growth is that it didn't really bleed through in the game's story that well upon initial playthrough, so a lot of people judged Dante as not growing at all in DmC. I say it's a matter of not paying attention on the player's side, but also I put some blame on NT's side for not really going more in-depth for how Dante was seeing the world.
So anyway, this conscience slowly began to bleed into demons as he met Phineas. After having faith in humans again, he believed that only demons were evil because of what Kat went through and everything the demons have done to humans. However he meets Phineas, who helps him, and this changes everything for Dante without even him possibly realizing it. Because of this one demon who helped him and explained Dante's history to him a little better, he began to see that not all demons were as evil as he thought...then he gets told to kill this baby demon. Now Dante is on the fence about taking any life. Especially a baby's life; demon or otherwise.
This is why he wanted to talk Vergil out of spilling unnecessary blood. He didn't want to kill Lilith for fear of killing the child. He was even willing to let Lilith live and give her a chance to escape when it was all over to Mundus again. The Dante from the beginning of the game would never do that.
So after Lilith did get killed, Dante was devastated and disappointed in Vergil. There's an interesting parallel of Dante slowly becoming the protector of all life and humanity like Vergil was at the beginning near the end, while Vergil became the uncaring, arrogant one like Dante at the beginning near the end. Just something I noticed.
So for the rest of the game, Dante kept himself as someone not after revenge anymore, but instead after the freedom of humanity. Unfortunately, Vergil didn't seem to pay attention to Dante's growth, but instead only focused on his willingness to follow him in his plans for Nephlim domination. Dante has seen what happens to someone of higher power ruling humans due to being exposed to it. Vergil didn't see any of that torture going on behind the scenes as Dante did due to different backgrounds, thus why Dante saw it as humans being free, while Vergil saw it as humans needing better guidance. Thus one of the reasons for their fight.
All in all; Dante's growth in DmC is definitely there, however it just didn't show enough for people to get a clear look at it in my opinion.
