Yes, that's why i want DMC to be different. I prefer my stories with more depth, where the villains&characters are more fleshed out than "I was just BORN EVIL".
So rather than an action game where you hack and slash your enemies you want to talk to every single one of those demons? Determine their likes and dislikes to see which is evil and which is not before you pop one? I think Shin Megami Tensei will be more up your alley. Hack and Slash games aren't exactly the right genre for the moral debate on the nature of devils and the possibility of them being the nicest of entities. What exactly would you want as opponents, then, if we're removing the demons are evil out of it? if not the demons who are you going to fight and kill? Should Dante start killing humans because they were the evil ones all along? That's a theme that's better explored in a media where the tutorial doesn't have you killing of you're potential good guys with monstrous appearance from beginning to end.
Its pretty damn boring to have some generic 2 dimensional "Evil guys".
Again, please refer to my comment on Nazis.
I understand your want for more thought out characters but considering the nature of the game you're not going to want to determine which is good or evil individually. That sounds like one boring action game. And if rather than individually, collectively what would you have their motivation for doing demony things be?
For a main character, sure, add a layer or two of complexity, Vergil would be a good place to start, but adding depth to all your opponents? Having an overall arching notion that the demons that have been killing people left and right aren't that bad, though? You might as well invite every zombie to dinner to make sure they are, in fact, soulless flesh eaters and not misunderstood ghouls with hobbies and interests of their own who are just trying to make it in the world of the living before blowing up the Spencer mansion.
DMC is a fictional universe, it can have good demons.
You mean Sparda or that Brad dude from the anime? They're there but the significance of ether would greatly diminish if they weren't the exception but rather the rule. If you want a demon with dept that's fine but we're well past the point of the possibility that they're all just like regular dudes who can be either good or bad. Re-skinned humans, as it was phrased before. One or even a few? Sure. Having the main villain be more complex would be a welcomed change, even if it was a demon, same for a side character, but not as a rule.
Stop looking at this from a strictly western point of view where Demons are inherently evil.
That's not really accurate, either. The only place where demons are not seen as evil spirits is in Greek myth where daemons are just spirits of neither evil nor good. However, every other culture will tell you demons aren't your friend. You don't accept an invitation from the devil (not to dance, not to dinner, not help you solve your problems), you don't make deals at the crossroads and you sure as hell don't make nice with them under the possibility that they're just misunderstood. Even shinto priests will tell you that. Why do you think most religions have rites of exorcism? Yes, even Asian and middle Eastern ones. I'm pretty sure native American cultures have them, too.
Even in fiction 'nice' demons are the minority. How many good hearted demons are there in InuYasha? 10 tops. How many evil? Thousands upon thousands. How about Berserker? Yu Yu Hakusho? I can think of two examples where the situation isn't so but that's the focus of the show. Putting aside the obvious demons are bad rule, within its structure of those shows that is the established parameter for those stories, what the show is about and a rule it instates for its lore, that demons there aren't evil. It's like establishing that in the Lost Boys vampires are a'holes and dress like bikers and then saying they'd have more depth if they were conflicted rather than party animals. Why not? Because in the lore of that story we've established what they are. Changing that changes the themes and the focus. Here, specially, when we've seen them kill, eat, and sacrifice humans in every medium the franchise has been in. A little late to say 'once you get to know us.'
Why? other than for bad writing purposes, it isn't interesting to have bad guys who are just evil for the sake of it.
I guess father Karras and father Merrin should've let the demon inside of Ragen because as it is, well, that would've been better writing if the demon was just a fun loving prankster. Same for the entity in Paranormal Activity. It would've given so much more depth to it if it were just lonely and misunderstood. When we see in humans we don't dismiss it at bad writing, we attribute it to human nature, so I don't really have a hard time believing it.
I don't mind that something shows a concept that defies the established norm, I've played a lot of Bayonetta in my time and I'm catholic, but once you've established something as fundamental to the lore as 'demons are evil' you probably shouldn't go trying to make a 180 on it. In BloodRayne vampires are evil, in CoD and every WW2 game ever made it's the Nazis, the zombies, the Aliens, the parasitic organisms that have taken over the town and kidnapped the president's daughter, the goombas, and so on. Making any of these more complex wouldn't be a bad thing, like motivation or a struggle of their own, but claiming that they were good all along doesn't feel hernest, specially after all the harm they've done.
