@TWOxACROSS
To answer your question about what my problem is with 4 since I've mentioned that DMC4 was my least favorite game, next to DMC2, I guess.
Well, aside from the common complains, the backtracking, the story, and the characters, to start with I kinda have the same issues with DMC4 than I do with DmC. You probably remember that a lot of what was said about DmC's reason for been were also the same reasons for DMC4's choices. It started off with the 'We want to make a DMC game that everyone will like/will have western appeal,' and then I remember talk of wanting the game to sell super well, better than the previous games. A lot of what was said during development of DMC4 was repeated during DmC's and I thought that was a poor way to go about it with DMC4 and with DmC nor did I like the actual design choices they made because of said logic and values. Granted, I didn't like DmC off the bat and it took me a while to dislike DMC4's but ultimately I did admit to myself that I dislike those aspects of the games.
Now, for the things ones that are unique to DMC4. The first and possibly the thing I am most crossed with is the decision to make this game 'not scary so as to not frighten the women.' First of all women and horror are not like oil and water, quite the opposite, in fact, as there has been a surge of horror directors who happen to be women, and I happen to know more than a few who like a scare as much as any man, otherwise lines for the theatres to any horror movie would be devoid of women and that is just not the case. More important than that, though, is the actual decision to remove horror elements, even more than for whose sake/demographic it was done so for. Devil May Cry was born off horror survival and that was a huge part of what made DMC1 such an experience for me, what's give it it's lasting appeal when the gameplay has aged less than graciously. It already was heavily lacking from every title after but atleast they remember that you were fighting demons but in DMC4 there is nothing about those things that I would ever really call threatening or demonic. Yeah, Berial was impressive and very imposing but that's just about it.
Some smaller but still crucial aspects are the for example the architecture, the music, the designs, how tank-like Dante is, Nero's anemic gameplay, and a few other irks.
The architecture is too pretty, that's about it. Baroque, I think. The first few games had far more interesting architecture, from DMC1's mix of gothic, art nouveau, and Spanish, with Mexican Baroque for the book, to DMC2's modern and old European, and DMC3's fantasy and gothic designs, DMC4's just looks too clean and pretty. Yeah, Fortuna isn't an ancient, long abandoned city so for it to look as decayed or menacing as the other games but the old English/French look is just not much for ambiance. Yeah, great to visit but not that interesting for fighting the hordes of hell.
I can't be the only one annoyed with the music. The constant play of the battle themes, how there is only one per character and sometimes all you hear is the start because some fights are so short and unlike DMC1 and 3 and Bayonetta the song starts over if there is any small gap between fights rather than it continuing if the gap between fights is small enough so it would just fade back up where it ended. It gets on my nerves after only a little bit. Those intros just kill me now.
I don't like Dante's design, nor Angus', or Gloria's, or Lady's. The rest I can live with, Trish's doesn't really appeal to me, I rather get a more diverse one rather than a small alteration to the original but I'll live. Dante's face just doesn't really strike me as Dante's, and the outfit is kinda goofy. In 2 he looked bad ass, in 3 he looked like a rock star, and 1 doesn't really stick out for me but it worked well. Here, thought, I just can't look at him and think to myself that it's even an outfit that exists in the same universe as the other 3. Agnus is not interesting to me and looks like a cartoon character that shouldn't be real in the same reality as characters from 1-3. Gloria is just dressed so impractically and rather bizarrely; All that talk of Dante not been able to walk into a bar dressed like that but what about his one? I guess I shouldn't say that, I've seen some cosplayers really pulling it off. Lady is also really dressed impractically. Yeah, she's fill out in all the right places and I guess there's no harm in showing off if you got the goods but... lord.
Dante feels so heavy. He's so slow compared to DMC3 and not as animated. Even in the cutscenes he's so heavy and sluggish, like he's too sleepy to get out of the chair, where in DMC1 and 3 he was active and energetic, always pumped and ready to act. I can't use all the fancy tricks like JC'ing, or inertia, and all that jazz, I don't have the time to go on practising so as sure as I am that all that versatility makes him top notch I can't access it and so it's non existent for me and that means that he's heavy and dull compared to previous versions.
As for Nero been anemic, it's the same one other's have. Nero has so little in the way of weapon variety. I really would like more, even a glove to bitch slap and start duels with would work.
Everything else is small. The lock on here bugs me, it's not as competent as the ones in the previous games. I hate the big scarecrows and how the are so gelatinous when you hit them, there is no impact when you strike them. It feels like the enemies were all design to fight Nero and his arm so Dante often feels ill equipped when having to fight some of them. They removed so many moves from Dante in the transition from 3 to 4, like wall running. While I appreciate call backs to earlier DMC games I didn't really find the combos for Gilgamesh that interesting and would've prefered new combo animations instead. I don't mind changing weapons in the pause menu, there is no need to limit how many weapons Dante will get just because you can't access them all on the fly.
There's more but sufficient to say the little things pile up and because of the big things it gets harder to ignore them. I have a similar set of complaints for DmC but that's for another section and it's probably just as long winded. Bottom line I have a lot of complains about DMC4, big and small.
Sorry you asked?
This accounts for ages, and lets us know that hey, Sparda may have been alive for a little longer than we thought, and he was the original wielder of the Yamato, before Vergil.
