When I said that you hadn't rebutted my other opinions, I meant that I wanted your responses to the following points:
"The combat and platforming look like they were made alot easier. You can stay in the air for way too long, the Style ranking doesn't time out anymore so unfortunately, you don't have to be very quick on your toes anymore. The Devil/Angel Lift seem taken directly from Nero's Devil Bringer arm and Grim Grip, the frame rates were dropped from 60 to 30fps so even if DmC were running at full capacity, it'd still be half as smooth or georgeous looking as the series old standard, the Bob Barbas boss battle looks like the glitzed up version of the terrible Trismagia fight in Devil May Cry 2, the Poison boss battle looks recycled from the excellent Colossus of Rhoads boss fight in God of War 2 which includes Kratos swinging to different areas during the battle, none of the weapons seem as inspired as the orgy of creative weapons we saw in Devil May Cry 3, and overall the story just doesn't strike me as much as the old series"
I wasn't asking for your thoughts on the entire series, but now that we're on the topic:
You're absolutely right, DMC2 surprisingly enough (I've been replaying it lately) introduced alot of series norms such as Twosome Time, Wall Hike, Rainstorm, and others. Despite that DMC2 sucked (I feel like I've said this too much) it was an important stepping stone if anything, which helped create the fantastic DMC3 and DMC4. I'm glad we can both agree that 3 and 4 are excellent! As for your thoughts on 1, I personally love the camera. It can be a pain in the ass sometimes, but the overall cinematic quality it brings to the environments seems to highlight each area and make it look and feel epic in scope. I don't think I've seen an in game camera exactly like it. However, your thoughts on how the yellow orb system is flawed don't make much sense to me. It lets you start back at your last checkpoint, and past that you're on your own. Nothing strikes me as immediately wrong about it. Furthermore, the DMC series never holds your hand, but throws you into the action and forces you to become a better player. I've always loved this about the series as it makes the overall experience so much more gratifying and intense when you actually beat each level. Your comment, "stuff like only 1 healing item that heals up your entire health per mission was BS," is actually exactly what makes the first game so great. It forces you not to rely on powerups, but purely on how skilled you are as a player. Agreed though, later installments were spot on in making a much needed chapter select option, but DMC1 in my opinion is so damn challenging and fun to play, that I don't really mind it. Each playthrough, each mission I get to I get this "Oh yah I remember this mission!!" feeling that I can't deny, but that's just me. I also agree about how integral DMC1 was in redefining the genre. I do feel however that it is the best DMC game, only for the reason that it created so much and is such an original work of genius, that the other games can't touch it save for DMC3's excellent voice acting/story/platforming/combat system. So much had never been done before with Devil May Cry, and the fact that I still avidly play it, 11 years after its release, and it still offers a challenging and satisfying experience is only a testament to its greatness. After all, there's a reason why most people still consider Citizen Kane to be the best movie of all time. Not to say that DMC1 is the best videogame of all time, but for everything its brought the genre, I'm sure it will be revered and talked about for years to come.