Stylish Nero
We Dem Boys!!
In past Devil May Cry games there was certain dynamics that were pretty unique to that game in the series. By Dynamics I mean their role in the narrative and the reason/set up for why you're fighting them.
Now if you want to ignore that we have 5 bosses so far (6 if you count Urizen) in DMC5.
Goliath a massive beast whose goal is to become the next King of Hell. He is the Berial/Phantom character that heroes mess with because he is big and takes himself very seriously although Goliath seems to be asking for it the most. Puts on a big show and acts all high and mighty. He is the only non main villain and final boss character in the series with large aspirations beyond being a henchmen or being there. I wonder if there are other demons/bosses like him who are aiming for the fruit to become king of the underworld.
Cavaliere Angelo basically Nelo Angelo 2.0 but is being powered by Trish instead of Vergil. Doesn't seem to have his own will and have limited speech like Nelo Angelo and seems to be a tool created to stop Dante. He doesn't become Cavaliere instead parts of his armor merges with a broken bike to become the weapon (the first in the franchise). So another obstacle.
Some giant bug tentacle demon. Not much is known of it but it seems to be connected to the demon tree due to its appearance. Might not possess any thought or intelligent defined behavior like speech due to its appearance and seems more like a massive weapon/robot with set function/purpose but who knows.
An angel like demon with large wings. Doesn't appear to talk and theories going around that it might be Lucia the same way Cavaliere Angelo is Trish. Seems to be another obstacle.
Giant Metal Gear like demon. Its really big. I'm speculating it might not possess individual thought either. Could be tied to Ragtime's creation.
Lastly Urizen. The big bad. More powerful than Mundus, Argosax, and the Savior. The one behind the demon tree and the invasion. He seems to be connected to the roots of the tree so he is probably apart of the tree and thus appears to be taking the supernatural force of nature trope more literally. Seems to be taking the same role of Mundus as the big bad the heroes must strive to defeat but just bigger. Giant Megazords demons, turning Dante's allies into his puppets, beating Dante without getting up off his chair, using armies of Nelo Angelos, using more advanced Hell demons, evolved Blades/Assaults, the Sin Sciccors, having high tier demons due his biding with promise of making them the next king of hell, and a full scale world wide invasion where the demon world is merging with the human world. Urizen means business now.
Now knowing what we know what bosses and boss dynamics you want to see as well as what more you want out of the existing current bosses (or what you hope for the ones we barely saw of yet) or what do you think of them so far.
How do you think boss wise (in both story and gameplay) do you think DMC5 bosses will stack up in previous entries?
I predict that Vergil, Balrog, and Cerberus will be bosses in the game.
If the giant Metal Bipedal Gundam isn't tied to Ragtime then I predict another demon boss (probably time based like Geryon) will be.
I heard a rumor V can recruit and summon the bosses he defeat soooooo take that will you.
DMC1 had 5 bosses that repeated 3 times (Mundus you fight twice back to back in one mission so I count that as 2 boss fights and a quick event boss in the last mission). They (the 4) were the henchmen of the big villain Mundus and whose main story purposes are to serve as obstacles would be defeated by Dante and retreat and fight again and fight again until they finally died with the 3rd fight. However each fight did vary in various degree due to change in battle arena and change of battle tactics. Facing these bosses 3 times really formed an odd relationship with them and Dante. They felt like recurring villains in a Super Sentai show. Phantom being the first really is the big brute **** talker and is generic yet cool enough to make fun banter with and out of the 4 is out to get you the most and it was both lethargic and a little sad when he died. Griffin is the most loyal and dedicated that when Mundus killed him Dante genuinely was upset over it. Nelo Angelo was most like Dante's rival being Mundus' most formidable henchmen with an epic and tragic final fight. Nightmare is the least interesting but its credit it being the final boss you face before Mundus illustrates Mundus' lack of humanity or sympathy as his henchmen go from **** talking giant lava spider with some attitude, a noble silent knight, and a loyal bird to a cold killing machine and serves more like a plot device (especially the 3rd fight with Trish's betrayal). Then you reach Mundus which the entire game was building up to as the ultimate threat and target (unlike other games the focus never left Mundus and each fight with the other bosses only further develops Mundus' power and villainy).
DMC2 was pretty simple the bosses were divided into honestly 2 categories. Main villains and mindless obstacles. Main villains being just Arius and Argosax. Mindless obstacles being the rest. They were either demons Arius created or made a contract with or they just showed up just to stop Dante and Lucia for no reason *cough*Trismagia*cough*whyareyouhere*cough*. Outside Trismagia none talked and even with Trismagia none really had a personality. So not much of a dynamic there. Arius is the main baddy who Dante and Lucia must stop and has more of a dynamic with Lucia than Dante and serves as her final boss. Argosax is the generic underdeveloped plot device that Arius is after and is just a powerful demon for Dante to kill and the final boss whose build up to tied to the main villain and is more of a final boss than the main villain.
DMC3 was a better and differently implemented dynamic. The bosses again could be divided into 2 categories: Main Villains and obstacles with Beowulf and Lady being outliers...I guess we can say 3 dynamics with the 3rd being stragglers. The main villains are Arkham/Jester and Vergil of course but Vergil plays the role of the repeating rival character and the best in the series so far. This video goes into more detail why:Then Arkham is the cunning trickster who is working his way to the top to steal the spotlight and become the main villain. Rather than being a powerful dominating force of nature like Mundus or even the target for Dante's ambition/goal uses his Vergil's shadow as the villain to deceive everyone and become the big bad but ultimately Vergil is the final boss. The other bosses the obstacles where pretty much obstacles that got in Dante's way but unlike the obstacles in DMC1 and 2 they didn't work for the bad guys...directly..but instead for the most part where gate keepers who were given that post and serving some duty and honestly they proved more beneficial to Dante as they gave him various weapons and upgrades that made him stronger and some were very willing to become tools/weapons for Dante to use. Then there are the stragglers Lady and Beowulf, who don't serve anyone but are there for their own purpose and aren't really villains (although Beowulf is antagonistic). Lady wants to kill Arkham and is willing to kill any demon that gets in her way including Dante while Beowulf doesn't work for anyone and just wants to kill Dante and Vergil. Allegiances to be damned. Most of the bosses unlike DMC2 had very distinct and at times quirky personalities.
DMC4 had 3 categories: The Order/the false angels, the demons, and Dante. The Order consisting of Sanctus, Agnus, and Credo makes it the first time and I guess the only time in the series where Dante and the crew fought against an organization made up of humans with a set structure, hierarchy, and tiers. They each serve a function with Agnus being the head of science and research, Credo being the military leader thus their best fighter (it shows in his boss fight) and Sanctus as the leader. Story wise only Credo somewhat mattered due to being Nero's adopted brother and the least villainous of the 3 (genuinely believing he is doing the right thing) and being a (poor) redux of Nelo Angelo (such wasted potential of a character:banghead::bangheadwhile Agnus and Sanctus were just the big bads (Agnus being the Igor to Sanctus Frankenstein or whatever villain pair where one guy is the ass kisser like Agnus) who Nero didn't like because they messed with him and his waifu. The Savior is apart of the Order but like Argosax serves more as a plot device and the goal the villains are striving to achieve rather than a villainous force but unlike Argosax which is its own entity the Savior is merely a tool to be used. The 3 demons: Berial, Echinda, and Bael/Dagon don't work for Order but are being used by the Order to further their goals so their unintentionally serving the Order's purposes and as usual serve solely as obstacles but unlike before where they're obstacles because they want to be or its their job they're obstacles solely because they're there and doing their usual demon thing. They each have their own distinct and quirky personalities. Dante is the rival character who was secretly the good guy (or always on your side/the double agent trope). The story starts off with the her thinking he is the bad guy and behind the demon invasion but the ole switcharoo and conspiracy plot starts to kick in and since you work for the actual bad guys Dante is there to stop you or in the 2nd fights case....to stop you and get Yamato.
Last DmC was a very interesting reverse of DMC1 where the bosses (especially first 4 before Mundus) serve the purpose of developing the world and society Mundus created rather than develop his villainy. You have the Hunter which are Mundus elite bounty hunters who are tasked with capturing/exterminating high profile targets like Dante to subdue potential threats to his order (don't know why they don't pop up more often if they are multiple of them). Poison makes the soft drink that allows him to poison and control the minds of the masses. Bob Barbas who controls the media and information. Lilith....can't really remember her purpose outside owning a Nightclub which was what ultimately allowed them to find Dante but I guess its connected to using entertainment and desires to distract or subdue/recruit people. She or better yet the actual boss (the Spawn) serve a purpose in developing Mundus and giving him a weakness the heroes can use against him. Then you have Mundus which is a remix of his DMC1 version dynamic where he is a solely an antagonist force Dante and the story is striving towards to. Since he has absolute control of Limbo Mundus takes on an absolute rule role similar to DMC1 Mundus. You can say its a more modern/updated take on Mundus and this dynamic between him and Dante. Lastly Vergil being the final (not-so) surprise villain or boss. His heel turn was foreshadowed a bit but outside that it is an unexpected turn of events (well unexpected to Dante and Kat). Vergil is also a set up villain for the sequel (that will probably never happen). Each boss is quirky in their own ways too with Poison's vulgarity, Barbas being Dante's own J Jonah Jamieson, Mundus self absorbed egotistic trash talking, and Lilith also trash talking if anything all the bosses in DmC (minus Vergil) are just different degrees of trash talkers. Also one neat thing about DmC is that all the bosses are either introduced and heavily alluded before their boss fights so there is some build up to each of them whereas most bosses appear right before you fight them and never appear again in many cases.
Now if you want to ignore that we have 5 bosses so far (6 if you count Urizen) in DMC5.
Goliath a massive beast whose goal is to become the next King of Hell. He is the Berial/Phantom character that heroes mess with because he is big and takes himself very seriously although Goliath seems to be asking for it the most. Puts on a big show and acts all high and mighty. He is the only non main villain and final boss character in the series with large aspirations beyond being a henchmen or being there. I wonder if there are other demons/bosses like him who are aiming for the fruit to become king of the underworld.
Cavaliere Angelo basically Nelo Angelo 2.0 but is being powered by Trish instead of Vergil. Doesn't seem to have his own will and have limited speech like Nelo Angelo and seems to be a tool created to stop Dante. He doesn't become Cavaliere instead parts of his armor merges with a broken bike to become the weapon (the first in the franchise). So another obstacle.
Some giant bug tentacle demon. Not much is known of it but it seems to be connected to the demon tree due to its appearance. Might not possess any thought or intelligent defined behavior like speech due to its appearance and seems more like a massive weapon/robot with set function/purpose but who knows.
An angel like demon with large wings. Doesn't appear to talk and theories going around that it might be Lucia the same way Cavaliere Angelo is Trish. Seems to be another obstacle.
Giant Metal Gear like demon. Its really big. I'm speculating it might not possess individual thought either. Could be tied to Ragtime's creation.
Lastly Urizen. The big bad. More powerful than Mundus, Argosax, and the Savior. The one behind the demon tree and the invasion. He seems to be connected to the roots of the tree so he is probably apart of the tree and thus appears to be taking the supernatural force of nature trope more literally. Seems to be taking the same role of Mundus as the big bad the heroes must strive to defeat but just bigger. Giant Megazords demons, turning Dante's allies into his puppets, beating Dante without getting up off his chair, using armies of Nelo Angelos, using more advanced Hell demons, evolved Blades/Assaults, the Sin Sciccors, having high tier demons due his biding with promise of making them the next king of hell, and a full scale world wide invasion where the demon world is merging with the human world. Urizen means business now.
Now knowing what we know what bosses and boss dynamics you want to see as well as what more you want out of the existing current bosses (or what you hope for the ones we barely saw of yet) or what do you think of them so far.
How do you think boss wise (in both story and gameplay) do you think DMC5 bosses will stack up in previous entries?
I predict that Vergil, Balrog, and Cerberus will be bosses in the game.
If the giant Metal Bipedal Gundam isn't tied to Ragtime then I predict another demon boss (probably time based like Geryon) will be.
I heard a rumor V can recruit and summon the bosses he defeat soooooo take that will you.