So I got around to playing DmC

[Meg]

And I thought you guys might be interested in reading my thoughts. Please keep in mind that everything is my opinion. :wink:

Going in, I wasn't expecting to like it, but I wasn't expecting to hate it either. I figured it would be just okay. And it is. It's not good, but it's not bad. It's just an average, dull game. I wasn't surprised by how bland the gameplay was. The platforming works, but it's really simplistic. I don't understand the game's heavy reliance on platforming consider how it doesn't do anything interesting with it. The combat itself wasn't too engaging either. The two angel and two demon weapons feel very similar. The weapons do the same thing but with didn't animations. The guns were also a huge letdown. The shotgun in particular is so unsatisfying to use. None of the weapons feel that powerful actually.

That said, I think the overall combat isn't bad. I had a good time stringing combos together. I didn't like how easy aerial combat is. Especially considering how easy it is to avoid damage just by staying in the air the whole fight. I wasn't impressed by any of the enemy designs either. In fact, I found some to be really stupid.

I played through the game on Nephilim (sp?) and am disgusted by how easy it is. I bought the game yesterday and already finished it. That really contributed to the combats dullness. It's hard to be engaged when it's so easy. Fortunately, I started again on Son of Sparda, and so far that is proving to be an actual challenge, which is great to see.

One thing the gameplay does well is make sure the player doesn't get hit by enemies off screen. DMC3 had this down years ago, and I still hardly ever seen it games. So thank you to DmC for getting it right. There are some exceptions though. The auto-lock on is really unreliable. This was especially true during the Vergil fight and when there were multiple fast moving enemies. The camera kept jerking around and getting caught. I got screwed over multiple times because I couldn't see what was going on.

I thought the boss battles were a letdown too. The hunter demon fight wasn't bad, but the others were a drag. Although, I did like the look of Mundus. Granted, I liked his design better in the first game, but that metallic look with the red, glowy chest was pretty cool.

Now onto the story. It was boring. I'm really surprised by how straight forward it was. Several missions felt tacked on to pad things out, but they could have used that time to do something more with the story. Since the whole point of the reboot (initially) was to do more with the story, I'm surprised there wasn't more to it. It wasn't even well executed! The writing was average in most places and terrible at times. There are a ton of plot holes that I don't have time to list also.

The characters were extremely dull as well. Dante didn't bother me as much as I thought he would. Instead, he just bored me. In the original series, Dante's clowning around was really entertaining. In this game, I didn't find anything he said witty or creative. His attitude was so dry and blah too. Kat was pretty forgettable as well and Vergil wasn't the imposing figure he was in the original series. In DMC1 and 3 going up against Vergil was something to look forward to. He was a force to be reckoned with. In DmC he was just....blah.

Mundus was a pretty good villain. I still like the statue-god thing in DMC1 more, but I thought the banker dude worked well in this game. Although, I got to say, The story could not of shoved it's point down our throats more. Everything was so surface level. Oh, Fox is a terrible news outlet. Anonymous are Internet heroes. Wall Street is evil. Etc. If you want to make a game that comments on modern society, then fine. But don't do it in such a forced, pretentious manner.

Level design was pretty good. Sometimes the lighting and/or colors hurt my eyes, but overall I liked it. Some levels remaindered me of El Shaddai and I actually liked them more in that game too. Regardless, the morphing world is a great concept and I think it was well implemented for there most part. It's a shame though, because the graphics weren't that great. There's tons of frame rate problems and textures popping in and out. Shadows are particularly ugly. I wish they would of spent more time making the game look good considering how nice the level designs were.

I thought the music was fitting and I really liked how it built with your style rank. That was a nice touch. Reaching an S or SS rank and getting to hear the vocals kick in always creates an awesome feeling.

I've got a ton of little things that bothered me, too. But I'll save those for later. Overall, I thought the game was just okay. Almost everything left something to be desired. However, the game shows huge potential. I want a sequel. I want to see more awesome level designs and an improved, more fluid combat system. I want Vergil to come back. I want to see where this goes. DmC has a lot of raw potential that doesn't get achieved in this game. But when I think about what the game could be like with polish and a better executed story, I get really excited. So cross your fingers for DmC2!

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For those of you who didn't know, I've been off the forums for a few months. I wasn't planning on coming back yet, but I decided I would just to share my thoughts. I wasn't planning on ending my break yet, but we'll see. :smile:

 

[OppressedWriter]

I really think you should unlock all the moves and play on SoS and DMD difficulties before you reach a final verdict, the game's difficulty, combat depth, and reliable soft lock (which can be overridden by inputing a direction on your left stick) only become apparent once you unlock dante's full movset and understand how target prioritization works.

Also, what do you mean about Vergil having multiple enemies, in that fight you only fight vergil?

Another thing about bosses, higher difficulties leads to better boss battles, because the enemies don't use all their moves at lower difficulties, this applies to both bosses and regular enemies.

 

[Meg]

I really think you should unlock all the moves and play on SoS and DMD difficulties before you reach a final verdict, the game's difficulty, combat depth, and reliable soft lock (which can be overridden by inputing a direction on your left stick) only become apparent once you unlock dante's full movset and understand how target prioritization works.

Also, what do you mean about Vergil having multiple enemies, in that fight you only fight vergil?

Another thing about bosses, higher difficulties leads to better boss battles, because the enemies don't use all their moves at lower difficulties, this applies to both bosses and regular enemies.

Saying the game's depth only comes out in higher difficulties isn't really a point in its favor. It reminds me of all the people who insisted Final Fantasy XIII gets good after twenty hours. If the gameplay doesn't get really good until you've played through it more than once, then it's not well executed then is it? I never had that problem in the original series. Oh sure, those games get better the more you play too, but the first play through is still really fun and engaging. The same goes for boss battles. If the bosses aren't fun until higher difficulty levels, then they aren't made well.

I didn't mean the Vergil fight had multiple enemies. I meant when you are fighting multiple fast enemies. I was referring to the witches and those dual-blade assassin dudes specifically.

 

[V's patron]

thanks for the opinion

 

[OppressedWriter]

Saying the game's depth only comes out in higher difficulties isn't really a point in its favor. It reminds me of all the people who insisted Final Fantasy XIII gets good after twenty hours. If the gameplay doesn't get really good until you've played through it more than once, then it's not well executed then is it? I never had that problem in the original series. Oh sure, those games get better the more you play too, but the first play through is still really fun and engaging. The same goes for boss battles. If the bosses aren't fun until higher difficulty levels, then they aren't made well.

I didn't mean the Vergil fight had multiple enemies. I meant when you are fighting multiple fast enemies. I was referring to the witches and those dual-blade assassin dudes specifically.

You're supposed to lose track of those enemies and have to pay attention to the sounds to input dodge at the last minute, and my point about depth isn't what you think it is. Devil May Cry games always get better with more playtime, because you have yet to learn the combat system. If you don't believe me just watch some of my videos or any other players videos, the combat has way more depth than a single playthrough can get across.

Here you can see me fight the dreamrunners, once you learn the different ways you can dispatch of enemies, you can dominate almost every enemy in the game.

 

[Meg]

You're supposed to lose track of those enemies and have to pay attention to the sounds to input dodge at the last minute, and my point about depth isn't what you think it is. Devil May Cry games always get better with more playtime, because you have yet to learn the combat system. If you don't believe me just watch some of my videos or any other players videos, the combat has way more depth than a single playthrough can get across.

Here you can see me fight the dreamrunners, once you learn the different ways you can dispatch of enemies, you can dominate almost every enemy in the game.

Supposed to lose track of enemies fine. Wonky camera constantly switching between which enemy it's locked on to so much that it's literally circle around me and getting stuck on environments. Not fine.

And in regards to depth, I understand that the game has more depth than one play through can show. That's true for all DMC games, as you said. But what I'm saying, is that if the first play through is dull, then there is a problem.

 

[OppressedWriter]

Supposed to lose track of enemies fine. Wonky camera constantly switching between which enemy it's locked on to so much that it's literally circle around me and getting stuck on environments. Not fine.

And in regards to depth, I understand that the game has more depth than one play through can show. That's true for all DMC games, as you said. But what I'm saying, is that if the first play through is dull, then there is a problem.

I don't believe you when you start getting so argumentative, do you see me having camera issues while playing? Is the camera getting stuck? The game doesn't auto center the camera, or rotate with a mind of its own, so I don't know why that was happening. IT especially doesn't auto rotate towards dreamrunners, and other enemeis during group encounters etc. You can always center it by pressing right stick. I'm not sure what you expect in response, great thanks for opinion, I disagree with your points, I offered suggestions and video proof in response.

Or here is a better example, remember the swords in DMC4, the flying swords, can you keep track of them constantly? Some enemies are designed to move off screen and try to attack you, you're supposed to use sound cues to dodge or react at the right moment. Dreamrunners are those enemies, luckily, all you have to do in DmC is input dodge, the direction you dodge isn't important, just the timing.

 

[Meg]

I don't believe you when you start getting so argumentative, do you see me having camera issues while playing? Is the camera getting stuck? The game doesn't auto center the camera, or rotate with a mind of its own, so I don't know why that was happening. IT especially doesn't auto rotate towards dreamrunners, etc. You can always center it by pressing right stick. I'm not sure what you expect in response, great thanks for opinion, I disagree with your points, I offered suggestions and video proof in response.

Argumentative? We're on a discussion forum! The point is to argue opinions. ???? You argued your point, I argued back, and now you don't believe me because I argued my side? What?

You can't really expect everyone who plays this game to have the same experience. The camera didn't work for me, but it worked for you. That's fine. I didn't know you could center the camera by clicking the right stick, so I'll be sure to try that. See if that takes care of it. Thanks. :smile:

 

[OppressedWriter]

Argumentative? We're on a discussion forum! The point is to argue opinions. ???? You argued your point, I argued back, and now you don't believe me because I argued my side? What?

You can't really expect everyone who plays this game to have the same experience. The camera didn't work for me, but it worked for you. That's fine. I didn't know you could center the camera by clicking the right stick, so I'll be sure to try that. See if that takes care of it. Thanks. :smile:

Okay, maybe my bad. It sounded a bit passive aggressive, but its hard to get subtlety in speech across on an internet forum. But the camera is seriously not bad, sure you'll have issues, that's an inevitability in any action game. But keep one thing in mind, Dante will attack the enemy who is about to interrupt his combo string if you don't input an direction on the left stick.

Try using an attack like Calibur or stinger towards an enemy, and when you input it, press right stick, this will help you manage the camera more. The camera doesn't just center, but it centers on the target Dante is locked on to as well. Still, none of this will help against dreamrunners as much, you have to kinda just get really good with various DmC moves and weapons to really understand how to beat them without much effort.

 

[DragonMaster2010]

Interesting thoughts. Agreed with some, disagreed with some.

 

[Demi-fiend]

Welcome back, Meg. Never a dull moment with you around, is it?

See, SamD? THAT was passive-aggressive.

 

[Loopy]

Fair opinion...in my opinion.:tongue:

I agree that the game was too easy, even on the highest settings. So I'd like more of a challenge to get the highest style ranks.
But, like you say, this game has a ton of potential and I would certainly like to see it continued just to see how they can improve. It was already a good game for me, but with some polish and tuning, it could be an excellent game.

 

[mrrandomlulz]

HOLY ****! MEG'S BACK!?

 

[ef9dante_oSsshea]

A great read agreed wit a few points here and there

 

[Shin Muramasa]

Saying the game's depth only comes out in higher difficulties isn't really a point in its favor. It reminds me of all the people who insisted Final Fantasy XIII gets good after twenty hours. If the gameplay doesn't get really good until you've played through it more than once, then it's not well executed then is it? I never had that problem in the original series. Oh sure, those games get better the more you play too, but the first play through is still really fun and engaging. The same goes for boss battles. If the bosses aren't fun until higher difficulty levels, then they aren't made well.

As a person who likes the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy, I wholeheartedly agree. Still, as my first RPG that I could go through without feeling lost, stupid, and overwhelmed - then again, I was older when I played FFXIII than the other turn-based, more strategic RPG -, I was able to keep an interest throughout the whole game, but yes, if a game doesn't become good in the span of times most games in its genre does, than there's something wrong, it's special, or maybe the player is at fault - playing on way too high of a difficulty for an example. FFXIII's gameplay becomes fun, challenging, and used to its potential around Chapter 11 where side-quests become available. That's eleven chapters to go through which is about 20+ hours in. And yes, the previous 20+ hours were the tutorial plus plot and character establishment/development. Fortunately, Final Fantasy XIII-2 had side-quests appearing sooner, but it still had combat showing it's potential late in the game. Hopefully, Lightning Returns fixes that.

The only games I can give an excuse to this would be really old RPGs like Dragon Warrior where grinding is necessary to survive or the Megami Tensei games especially the Persona series which from what I'm watch is naturally a slower-paced RPG with elements of visual novels. So, most of the time will be spent with side-quests, Social Link, and learning more about people than the main plot and combat.

I didn't mean the Vergil fight had multiple enemies. I meant when you are fighting multiple fast enemies. I was referring to the witches and those dual-blade assassin dudes specifically.

I just fought the Crow Witch Malphas in Castlevania: Lord of Shadows. The main boss, Malphas, wasn't an issue, in fact, it was mostly slow QTEs - isn't that an oxymoron -, no, it was her spawns from hell; her children. Those things attack so fast that there's little time to react. I don't even think they telegraph anything. I call bull on my deaths from those freak-shows. Ironically, they're helpless in the air, so it was jump, grapple, and mash the attack button while hoping that when I land, I don't get blindsided by the other "children". The main issue, besides a poorly designed enemy - my opinion - is how sluggish Gabriel freaking moves. For a man who looks as fit as Bruce Wayne, fights unholy creatures for a living, and has magical powers to aid him, why the hell is he so freaking slow?! He can't even sprint without otherworldly help! So, let's review: a slow moving character in a fast-paced game with enemies on crack. Have fun. Did I mention his huge hitbox? I was hit by a sword a mile away from Gabriel and I swear I pressed the dodge button. Nope, Gabriel died from a heart attack seeing a sword held in the Black Knight's hands. At least Dante's reaction speed isn't as slow as a turtle in any of his games so the auto-lock, hard or soft, doesn't have to be even worse with slower movement.

Anyway... More on-topic. The fast enemies, I always found it better to play defensively with them in any game. Usually if there's a counter system, I'll just exploit it as much as possible. Just time a block and counter while standing there, waiting, feeling my ancestors' cowboy and samurai blood flowing through me, waiting, and WHAM! DEAD! You dead, you mot-CENSORED... Ahem, if there's no block or the counter is odd, than I'll just dodge and wait for them to get closer to me. Why swing wildly when you can wait and counter at the right moment? Then again, that's my play style...

Gabriel's shenanigans are starting to get to me, aren't they? Freaking enemies and no I-frames whatsoever. Getting combo'd while being combo'd is not a fair death to me. Still, that's probably going to happen in real life. There ain't no honor when someone wants you dead.

 

[berto]

Saying the game's depth only comes out in higher difficulties isn't really a point in its favor. It reminds me of all the people who insisted Final Fantasy XIII gets good after twenty hours. If the gameplay doesn't get really good until you've played through it more than once, then it's not well executed then

as the only person in my circle of friends who liked XIII i always found this to be a tragedy. it's a fantastic game but people refuse to comit that much when the pay off isn't immediate, and rightly so, since 20 hours is a long time to start enjoying something.

If you don't mind me asking, why'd it take you so long to getting around to playing the game?

 

[Meg]

as the only person in my circle of friends who liked XIII i always found this to be a tragedy. it's a fantastic game but people refuse to comit that much when the pay off isn't immediate, and rightly so, since 20 hours is a long time to start enjoying something.

If you don't mind me asking, why'd it take you so long to getting around to playing the game?

There were a few reasons. 1) I had a ton of other games I was more interested in. 2) I wanted to wait until I could get it cheaper. (I only have so much money.) :banghead: 3) I wasn't that interested in it. The story/characters didn't appeal to me and I thought the gameplay in the demo was only okay. So I decided to wait.

 

[Winterfrost]

I like it...on PC hueeeeeeee nice to see you again.

 

[Jak]

holy **** meg...MEG YOU'RE BACK!!! AND YOU PLAYED DmC...COOL. thanks for the opinion. its valued...even if you verbally crushed the game with an iron boot and publicly castrated it at times...your opinion is still valued.

 

[Demi-fiend]

even if you verbally crushed the game with an iron boot and publicly castrated it at times...

uh...