The simple fact, my friend, is that the only way that can balance out any form of grappling is through the enemies you'll be fight. To prevent Demon Grappling, they would have to make enemies too heavy for Dante to pull. For Angel, they would have make enemies with protection, such as spikes, that prevent Dante from getting close to them. However, the latter (protected enemies) would be limiting because it'll be hard to attack them in general (shooting them would probably be the only way, if not some form of strategy that'll attack their weak spots).
Now, in DMC terms, nothing outside of combos would be a good limit. Placing an automatic attack as a height limit is as much a nuisance as it is a tool. Newbies will find it hard to understand how to effectivly use that limit, if they don't find ways to overuse it much like the grappling mechanic. Besides, staying in the air is a difficult task alone without having any height limits.
Personally, I find the Grappling mechanic unnecessary, even when it was introduced with Nero in DMC4. The fact that your attacks launched your enemies was a good challenge to players who wanted to master the game, but grappling just makes it too easy sometimes.